Getting a Driving License Should be a Privilege, Not a Right...

Who said government officials don’t work? Last June, the media discovered how ‘efficient’ a Regional Transport Office inspector in Malappuram, Kerala was. In five hours, he conducted 147 driving tests and issued licenses to about 100 candidates. Later in the afternoon, he conducted fitness tests on 88 vehicles, including 38 heavy commercial vehicles. All in a day’s work? No, this superhuman officer had more charge left in him. He renewed 16 licenses before he left for the day. Wonder how much ‘work’ he took home with him. Stunned by this revelation, the Kerala transport department has since implemented stringent rules, which has reduced the pass percentage of driving licenses to less than 50%. It was 100% the year before that. Yes.

And then there is Maharashtra. According to a 2024 news report in onmanorama, it seems that the RTO in Andheri, Mumbai issued a whopping 76,000-plus driving licenses in 2023 based on fake driving tests using unauthorised vehicles. This was uncovered when the state’s Accountant General conducted a random audit of driving license application processing. In the audit, of the 104,000 licenses that were reviewed, 76,354 were issued after all the tests were conducted on the same set of four vehicles, with a complete mismatch between the test vehicle and the category of license issued. This is the audit data of just one RTO, while there are 53 more RTOs in Maharashtra, and over 1,100 RTOs across India, including Malappuram, of course. India, a land of immense opportunities…

Wait, that’s not all. While two officers were suspended from the Andheri RTO, last month Hindustan Times reported that the same RTO, around the same period, granted fitness certificates to 60 vehicles a day. Only 25-30 vehicles are authorized to undergo these tests per day. These fitness certificates were issued even on weekends and holidays. I am moved to tears by the sheer dedication of India’s RTO personnel.

So what’s the most effortless, clean (for you) – and perhaps even cost-efficient – way to obtain a driving license in Mumbai then? Join your neighbourhood driver training school, finish the mandatory instruction sessions and finally, on the appointed day, go along with your driving school instructor to the RTO and you’re done. Merely turning up for the test along with the driving school employee seems to be good enough to get your license. For about 9,000 bucks, your license is assured even before you figure out where the steering wheel is. And when you do go for the test, the RTO officer may opt not to even see your face, let alone figure out whether you know which of the three pedals stops the vehicle. Or what is the sign for No Entry. Or notice that you are using the brake pedal to kick-start the motorcycle. True story.

I don’t know of any other important and momentous life-altering test that we face in our lifetimes in which we are guaranteed success – even before we take it. Take Maharashtra, again. In 2023, it was reported that of the 50-odd RTOs in the state, 14 had a failure rate of less than 1%, some were even lower, at 0.5%! Surely, you must be an utter failure in life if you flub a mere RTO test in Maharashtra. Of the 32.04 lakh applicants, a staggering 97.24% were granted licenses. What a skilled, talent pool this country has! What selfless government officials! We’re blessed.

Also Read: Superhero Characters Inspired by Indian Roads!

It need not be this way. There is a tremendous force pushing against any sort of RTO reform. Road transport is a state subject, the Motor Vehicle Act features in the Concurrent List. When the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways wrings his hands and bemoans that he has not been able to bring down India’s traffic fatalities, it is because he can only do so much. Even if the state government belongs to the same party as the one at the Centre, the pushback against reform is stupendous. So what if the demographic dividend of the same state gets snuffed out on the roads?

But it doesn’t have to be so. Delhi introduced automated driving tests in May 2023. In the January-August 2024 period, 80% of those who were manually evaluated got their driving licenses, while only 54% of those who took the automated test passed. A lousy pass percentage for obtaining a driving license, conversely, should make all of us happy. Unfortunately, the pace of adoption of automated tests at all 1,100 RTOs is simply not fast enough – of course, it is not the only solution to make our roads safer.

Also Read: Understanding Road Fatalities in India: The Numbers Hide a Deeper Story, One that is Frightening!

A driving license is not like Aadhar, a source of identity that every Indian is eligible to get. Driving or riding a vehicle is a privilege, you have to earn it. An estimated 1.20 crore driving licenses are issued annually – have all of them earned that privilege? No wonder, we are attaining new heights in road crashes, injuries and fatalities.