Poor licence standards lead to indisciple on roads, says Neeraj Kumar

New Delhi: Poor training of drivers and low standards for licence allocation are the reasons behind indiscipline on roads in the national capital, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said on Saturday. "If I were to be asked what is the single biggest reason or poor discipline on the roads in Delhi, I would say it is poor pre-licensing training of drivers and low standards (observed during) giving them licences," said Kumar.

He was speaking at the inauguration of renovated Traffic Park at Roshanara Bagh in Delhi. Sharing his experience, Kumar said that in countries like Japan, driving licences are given by the private sector and the government has no involvement in it.

"And you will be surprised to know that it is easier to get a graduation degree in Japan than to get a driving licence," he said. "There the private licensing schools have created such high standards in training that the government has full faith in them... This is the kind of culture in road safety and driving existing in Japan," the commissioner said.

When asked about the problem of waterlogging in Delhi after Saturday's downpour, Kumar denied any negligence on part of the police. "I won't say it is negligence on part of the police but our work is to raise the issue and take it to the higher authorities," he said.

Quizzed on whether traffic fines should be increased to improve road safety, Kumar replied in the affirmative but said it is not the ultimate solution. A joint initiative of Delhi Traffic Police and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt Ltd, the newly inaugurated Traffic Training Park is spread over an area of 2.06 acres.

At the Traffic Training Park, Honda will promote Road Safety in a specially designed, protected environment. Skilled safety instructors will daily engage all age groups starting from as young as 5 years young children to adults with a special focus on new and female riders.

Special Primary School activity is planned for children from 5-8 years of age, an official statement said on Saturday. Applauding the efforts between Honda and Delhi Traffic Police, the Commissioner termed it as a "small but concrete step" towards having an improved road safety scenario in India.