Let’s teach them how to drive!!!!!

Pic Credit: spiderzoom.com

Dear Friends,

All of us travel in our daily life. For some it’s commute from home to office and vice versa. We also travel from one city to other city. Due to increase of better road infrastructure and sadly absence of effective and speedy public transport, most of us use our own vehicles like two wheelers and four wheelers to commute. In short we are on the road navigating and negotiating traffic everyday.

Some Alarming Statistics about Road Safety in India.

• In India, 1,20,000 people die and 12,70,000 sustain serious injuries every year in Road Traffic Accidents. (This data is inadequate as it was recorded and consolidated till 2011. Data after that is not available ) 
• As per the statistics, there is one death on the Indian road every six minutes and this is expected to escalate to one death every three minutes by 2020.
• Even this may be an underestimation, as according to the Institute of Road Traffic Education (2006) Institute of Road Education, New Delhi, out of the estimated 1.4 million serious road accidents/ collisions occurring annually in India, hardly 0.4 million are recorded. Many road traffic deaths in rural areas are not recorded. Similarly, accidents which result in late deaths after the discharge from hospital due to the effects of morbidity also are not recorded. (Indian Journal of Neurotrauma (IJNT) 2008, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 63-67)
• India accounts for about 10% of road accident fatalities worldwide
• Although India accounts for only 1% of the registered motor vehicles, it accounts for nearly 9 % of RTA deaths.
• According to the experts at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NTPRC) the number of road accidents in India is 3 times higher than that prevailing in developed countries.
• The number of accidents for 1000 vehicles in India is as high as 35 while the figure ranges from 4 to 10 in developed countries
• World Health Organisation has revealed in its first ever Global Status Report on Road Safety (2009) that more people die in road accidents in India than anywhere else in the world, including the more populous China.

We always curse the lack of traffic discipline in others. Sometimes we also bend the rules and sheepishly enter in a one way lane, park on the wrong side of the road, overtake the other vehicle from the wrong lane. At times we know we are breaking the law however most of the time we are not even aware that a very casual obstruction to the Right Of Way to the other vehicle is also obstruction of law. 

Unfortunately we never technically and theoretically learn to drive our vehicles. Mostly it’s a training given by our peers or some Motor Driving School who are eager to get you a License to drive without teaching you some very important basics of safe driving. Every year newer versions of cars are coming on the road with more and more power stashed in their engines.

Our roads and getting wider and smoother and this is increasing our average speed of driving the vehicle. When I learnt how to drive touching 80 KMPH was like a dream however now when I travel from Pune to Mumbai or for that matter to any place with a good two by two highway, we easily touch 100 KMPH. This immense speed and lack of discipline as well as ignorance about driving rules, is creating an ideal situation for road incidents. Some minor, where people get away with dents and bumps on the car; however some major where we lose our near and dear ones.

I am planning to launch an online training platform for better driving & road safety. I have been driving for the past 24 years and I have spent about 10 years in online training industry so I can say that I know both the sides quite well.

In this project I am creating small online courses on safe driving and road safety depending upon the type of vehicle, which you can subscribe to either on your desktop or laptop computer or even through a mobile App.

A Sample course created by me with my content partner GOLS (GurukulOnline Learning Solutions)  can be seen by visiting this link.

These courses will be in multiple languages so even the bus and truck drivers will be able to learn the best driving practices. One doesn’t need to have any knowledge of how to operate a computer to learn driving through these courses.

For the Drivers of Trucks/Buses/Cabs who are less literate, we are working on building touch screen kiosks which would be placed on Highway Dhabas, Patrol Pumps etc.

I need your help in spreading word about this initiative. I also need your help to connect me with the right people at various strategic positions such as administration, government agencies, auto manufacturers, corporate houses who can help me to build the required Virtual Learning Environment to deliver quality learning experience to all the drivers in the country.

Let’s make our roads safe by spreading awareness and not just punishing people when they make mistakes. I am looking forward to your help and active support.

Please give me feedback,suggestions, ideas to make this happen. Comment below or you can reach me @mandyisgreat or at 09890817339 & mandar@techknowsmart.com