The recent enactment of Road Transport Act has brought a sense of care among the drivers. They are now treading more carefully so as to not break any rules. Some have also been seen to not get into the driver’s seat for fear of getting caught by mobile courts and being fined. While this is going on some have opted to get into the lines of BRTA and get their papers in order. However, this has also brought about a number of problems. For instance, the indefinite transport strike across the country has caused numerous people to suffer. Although in some places the transport owners and workers have quit on the strike, still there are places where the strike is going on and is causing a lot of trouble for the commuters.
The number of drivers with
license and proper training
must be increased
Meanwhile, a report published in this daily has shed light upon the fact that most of the heavy road transports like trucks and buses are driven by unskilled and under aged drivers because of acute shortages in the number of skilled drivers. On the other hand, the report also suggests that the number of registered vehicles when compared with the number of registered, legal and licensed drivers is very disproportionate. For instance, there are only 21,000 drivers against more than one lakh heavy transports while the number of other drivers is around 4 lakh against more than 5 lakh light motor vehicles.
Such a huge difference of skilled and licensed drivers in one of the most important sectors of the country is detrimental to fulfilling the objective with which the Road Transport Act was enacted. In order to bring safety on the roads, these numbers have to be balanced. The number of drivers with license and proper training must be increased.
It is to be noted that the government had undertaken a project to produce one lakh efficient drivers. But, so far there has been nothing mentionable in the area. Even if the number of skilled drivers increases by one lakh that will be a great help, only if they follow the rules and regulations and abide by them. The authority has to take the initiative here to ensure that not only these drivers but all the drivers around the country know and follow the regulations.