LUCKNOW: To ensure road safety and impart lessons in safe driving, the state government is setting up driver training institutes in 15 divisions of Uttar Pradesh. The construction of training institutes is already complete in Prayagraj, Moradabad, Mirzapur, Mathura, Meerut, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Muzaffarnagar.
State transport department officials said overspeeding, drunken driving, wrong side driving and talking on phone while driving were the main reasons for the spike in road accidents.
In 2020, at least 19,149 people died in over 34,243 road accidents in the state. Though there was a decrease of 15.5% in the number of casualties, the state government is trying to reduce it further, an official statement said.
“The state government has set the target of bringing down the number of deaths in road accidents by 50% by 2030,” it added.
These institutes will train the drivers of commercial and private vehicles in safe driving skills. Sources said it might be made mandatory for commercial vehicle drivers to undergo training at these institutes, the government could also allow drivers of private vehicles to enrol for training. Private vehicle drivers may have to undergo a 21-day course which will include hands-on training and theory classes. The training schedule will include at least 10 hours of driving.
In case of commercial vehicle drivers, the course will be of 30 days and driving hours not less than 15.
The state government will issue licence to trained drivers only. From June 15 onwards, the licence seekers will be tested for their driving skills on new testing tracks at the institutes where the construction work is complete. The test will be conducted for two-wheeler and four-wheeler drivers