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S. Muralidhar

BIG retail chains have spelt the doom of the family-owned, street-corner grocer in several countries in the West. We are getting there too, with the kind of rapid growth that departmental stores and retail chains have witnessed here in the last few years.

Now, the ubiquitous, small-time `driving training' schools in your neighbourhood may be faced with a similar fate.

That is one way of looking at it. But the other dimension to the news that Maruti Udyog (MUL), the country's largest passenger car manufacturer, is setting up driving-training schools across India is a welcome development for the automobile industry and to road-users at large.

The absence of an organised, professional driving training set up has been a huge problem in the Indian context. With corrupt transport officials, callous drivers and a mounting accident rate, the urgent need for organised driver training hardly needs emphasis.

The situation here is quite contrary to the highly advanced driving training facilities that are available in the West, where instructors are highly regarded professionals. A driving licence can be obtained only after a stringent examination and it is considered a big achievement in several of the developed automobile markets.

According to Maruti's proposal, these schools are to be modelled on international lines. The schools are proposed to be set up in collaboration with the company's dealerships.

The training imparted by the schools will include classroom sessions, practical training on simulators, training in real world conditions — in Maruti cars, of course — and also attitude training in line with international practice. Maruti will prescribe and monitor the standards to be followed by these schools. Specially trained and groomed instructors, including women instructors, will be recruited to impart training.

These instructors will first undergo intensive training at the Institute of Driving Training and Research (IDTR), Delhi, which is managed by MUL. The first batch of instructors, including eight women, completed the training recently.

The Maruti driving schools will be equipped with imported simulators, to enable learners to familiarise themselves with the controls of the car before they actually take a vehicle on the road. These will also simulate various road and weather conditions such as fog, dim light, uphill, downhill, etc., to provide comprehensive training to learners. While there will be a standard learning package for beginners, Maruti driving schools will also offer the flexibility of additional modules so that learners can design a curriculum of their choice.

Maruti says there are three objectives for undertaking this initiative now, including the company's attempt at contributing to road safety as part of its social responsibility. Several customers, particularly women, feel the need for driver training; in many cases, though the family owns a car, women are not able to use it because of the absence of a reliable local driving training school.

Specialised training by female instructors will also enable prospective women drivers feel more comfortable when they get behind the wheel during training sessions.

These driver training schools are to be set in select dealerships across the country in a phased manner over the next few months.

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