Faced with tough test, Driving licences drop 26% in Tamil Nadu, 1 in 5 applicants fails in first attempt

CHENNAI: For the first time in many years, Tamil Nadu has witnessed a 26% dip in number of driving and learners’ licences issued annually. From 30 lakh in 2017-18, they have come down to 22 lakh in 2018-19, show data.

At least 20% of the applicants have flunked their first driving test and managed to clear it only in subsequent attempts. Hitherto, the average failure rate was around 7% to 8%.
The state transport department has attributed this to two major changes introduced last year.
First, the testing process was made stringent by clubbing Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) across the state. For instance, testing at three RTOs in west Chennai was clubbed with the Anna Nagar RTO which has standardized tracks, said transport commissioner C Samayamoorthy Similarly, RTOs across the state were clubbed to enable conduct of driving tests on standardised (8-shaped and Hshaped) tracks and ramps instead of empty grounds and on the roadsides.
Though the Union Road Transport Ministry issued an order in March this year to create standardized tracks at all RTOs, Tamil Nadu took the lead in holding such tests for the past one year.
A few driving schools have moved court against the order and the matter is pending before courts.
Interestingly, the number of DL applications filed at Karur RTO, where the government has established its first digitized track, has come down from 40 to 15 a day.
DL application process to go online soon
The local residents have now started approaching other RTOs in the vicinity to avoid the stringent digital testing process.
To plug this loophole, the transport department is trying to introduce a new rule to restrict RTOs from accepting applications from individuals who do not reside within their jurisdiction, said a transport official.
At present, a phone bill or rental agreement is being accepted as a proof of residence
The second major reform was making the application process entirely online to eliminate brokers.
“We moved from client server to cloud server. To put it in simple terms, individuals can no longer apply for licences or LLRs from multiple locations,” Samayamoorthy said.
Earlier, due to the lack of a central repository, traffic offenders were file fresh applications even after the suspension of licences.
Also, the spike in LLR applications spurred by the demand under Amma twowheeler scheme last year, has come down this year, leading to a fall in numbers, officials added.