Answer

Introduction

India records over 1.7 lakh road accident deaths annually, making it among the highest globally. Despite the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, weak institutional capacity in driver licensing and vehicle certification continues to undermine enforcement, accountability, and deterrence, aggravating preventable human fatalities.

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Institutional Weaknesses

• Lenient Testing: Driving tests focus on basic manoeuvres, ignoring behavioural, hazard-perception, and highway-driving competencies.
  Eg: Outdated RTO testing formats failing to assess real-world driving risks.
• RTO Overload: Severe staff shortages and excessive workloads encourage outsourcing and rent-seeking practices.
• Agent Nexus: Middlemen manipulate licensing processes, enabling untrained drivers to obtain licences.
• Weak Fitness Audits: Vehicle certification often ignores structural safety, braking systems, and emission compliance.
• Fragmented Oversight: Multiple agencies handle roads, vehicles, and policing without integrated accountability mechanisms. Coordination gaps between transport departments and traffic police.

Administrative Reforms

• Standardised Testing: Adopt AI-enabled, centralised driving tests assessing reaction time, hazard perception, and compliance.
• RTO Professionalisation: Create a specialised road safety cadre with training in transport engineering and behavioural enforcement.
• Digital Certification: Implement tamper-proof, real-time vehicle fitness databases linked with enforcement agencies.
  Eg: VAHAN database improving traceability.
• Independent Audits: Establish third-party accreditation for vehicle inspection centres to reduce conflict of interest.
  Eg: Independent inspection models used in OECD countries.
• Integrated Command: Create state-level road safety authorities with unified data, enforcement, and accountability powers.
  Eg: Supreme Court-mandated State Road Safety Councils.

Conclusion

Strengthening road safety governance requires shifting from procedural compliance to institutional capability and integrity. Professionalised RTOs, technology-driven testing, independent certification, and integrated oversight can transform licensing and certification into credible deterrents, making human life—not vehicular throughput—the central metric of India’s transport administration.

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