[sustran] Punjab plans to tighten driving licence norms

[Asija, Navdeep]

CHANDIGARH: It may no longer be easy to turn the learner's licence into a
regular one with just a driving test in Punjab. The draft Punjab State Road
Safety Policy has recommended delaying the process of getting driving
license by introducing a system of Graduated Licensing System (GLS), as
prevailing in countries like USA, Australia and Hong Kong, wherein aspirant
drivers have to drive with letter "P" displayed on the vehicle.

The idea behind the move is to ensure that young drivers get thorough
exposure to driving before they get the status of full-fledged drivers,
sources said.

Under the proposed system, an intermediate step would be made mandatory
after the learner's licence and a new driver will have to get an
intermediate, provisional or probationary license, which can come with
restrictions on speed limits and the number of passengers in the vehicle.
For this, amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act will have to be made.

The GLS is used in different formats across the world. For instance, in
Australia, learner drivers of Queensland have to get 100 hours of driving
experience with a separate condition for minimum night driving before they
are eligible to take the driving test. After one year, such provisional
drivers will also have to pass a hazard-perception test.

The draft road safety policy, as finalised by Punjab Governance Reforms
Commission, has highlighted the need for setting up a road safety research
and development centre along with a road safety laboratory, in
collaboration with engineering and medical colleges in the state. It has
also suggested tie-ups for road safety analysis, software development and
human resource development required for implementing road safety measures
in the state.

The road safety lab will have a centralized road safety database management
system and an analysis wing. The objective of the wing will be to perform
certain types of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the existing data
to understand road crash phenomena more scientifically.

In another step to eliminate the possibility of casualties involving
personal vehicles, the draft policy seeks a switchover to public transport.
However, it has been pointed out that Punjab has only about 63 buses per 10
lakh population, suggesting a clear mismatch between demand and supply. The
state has a population density of 550 people per sq km area. In order to
promote public transport and discourage personal transport, the policy
proposes a special thrust on increasing the number of buses for public
transportation.

The draft has also pointed out that road fatalities have shown a declining
trend, by about 5%, in the state during the past three years. This has been
attributed to increased enforcement levels, better post-crash evacuation
mechanism, improvement in inter-city public transport and rise in fuel
prices which has brought about a shift from personal transport to public
transport as observed on the core road network in the state, sources said