New Delhi: The Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the Institute of Driving Training & Research (IDTR) during his visit to Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune on November 1, 2014. 

The IDTR, set up by CIRT, is a part of the Road Safety initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. Eight such IDTRs are being set up across the country under the aegis of the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways during the 11th Five Year Plan. CIRT also plays the role of monitoring agency on behalf of the Ministry for setting up such IDTRs. The IDTR at Pune has been set up on PPP basis with Tata Motors Limited acting as a private partner. 

The IDTR has state-of-the art facilities including spacious classrooms equipped with audio-visual facilities, driving range for imparting driving practice on road for various maneuvers, driving laboratory displaying aggregate and cut section models, testing laboratory for checking the physical characteristics, workshop for routine maintenance activities, library and hostel with a capacity of 75 participants. Two driving simulators have also been installed at IDTR for imparting a pollution-free training to the trainees on a range of cognitive skills to deal with complex road way and traffic conditions. 

Institute of Driving Training & Research to be inaugurated today at Pune

The training will be conducted by well-trained driving instructors to impart practical, systematic and scientific training to new drivers as well as in-service drivers along with trainers. The IDTR also proposes to train exclusive batches of the women drivers for city cabs. This will give a boost to the Road Safety initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and will also play a catalytic role for the development programme of the Government of India. 

The highlight of IDTR at Pune is the camera based innovative driving testing system which will ensure a technology based assessment of the driving quality on the various tracks of the IDTR without human intervention. This technology will enable promotion of a corruption free platform for grant of driving licenses and selection of drivers ensuring the quality of the applicant. The camera based driving testing system has been developed by CIRT as an advanced version of the earlier sensor based testing technologies which are in place at some locations. 

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has given a push to reduce the number of fatalities due to road accidents and has kept an ambitious target of reduction by 50 per cent in the next five years. This would be achieved with improved driver training, better road conditions, efficient enforcement and safer vehicle technologies. The Ministry of Road Transport has already released a draft of the new Road Transport & Safety Bill 2014 inviting suggestions from the public and stakeholders. It has also discussed the provisions of the Bill in the recently concluded Transport Development Council meeting with the Transport Ministries of various states. The Ministry aims to introduce the Road Safety & Transport Bill in the winter session of the parliament.