Untrained Road Driving A Menace: Experts

It all turned turned tragic after a techie, learning to drive a car, ran over Mani Varma and his cousin, Varsha. While Varsha was flung into the air and landed 20 feet away from where she was hit. Mani, who came under the car, died on the spot.

Despite the tragedy, the space remains in regular use — its dual identity as both a driving practice ground and children’s play area unchanged.

“It was just a matter of five seconds – and we lost the jolliest child of our family,” recalled Swati, Mani’s aunt and Varsha’s mother. “Had the driver gone to a proper driving school, this wouldn’t have happened.”

The woman techie was learning how to drive an automatic car under the supervision of her husband at a ground that houses school buses, and becomes a playground during summer holidays.

No learner’s board, no formal training — just a moment’s negligence turned into a lifetime of grief for their parents. More and more people in Hyderabad have been bypassing certified driving schools and have been taking to residential colonies, public roads, and even isolated grounds unprepared, putting their own and others’ lives in danger. Experts attribute this growing menace to a lack of awareness, expert supervision, and safe spaces in the city to practice driving.

While the Motor Vehicle Act does not mandate attending a formal driving school to learn driving, changing times have increased the demand for higher supervisory control.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Pranay Raj, an employee at a private company in the city, said that taking up a formal training was the wisest decision he made. “I would not deny the fact that it purely depends on your self-confidence, but going with a trainer was like guidance at every step, which helped greatly in the initial stages when I was having a tough time with handling the brake and gear.”

Sharing his experience as a witness, P. Naresh, a resident of Tilak Nagar and a retired bank employee, said, “I have encountered so many people being taught by their relatives. Instead of letting them get confident in isolated areas, or narrower lanes, they directly bring them to the main road, and that too in the middle of the road. It might make them bold enough to drive, but will never help them gain knowledge about the road.”

According to Naresh Raghavan, road safety and driver education coach, the current traffic situation and heavily packed chunks of the city demand formal training. “Years down the lane, city roads were mostly empty. Now they're highly packed, with motorists leaving no space empty. In such a situation, to avoid harm, it's better to learn under a guide, who has got control of your driving.”

Raghavan said that the individuals attending formal driving schools too often take road safety awareness for granted. “While we prioritise vehicle model and efficiency in driving, we keep our own safety at arm's length. We often come across driving schools complaining of learners neglecting road safety awareness sessions, with most of them involving only for completing the course and obtaining a learner's license.”

The problem does not end here. Apart from ignoring formal driving lessons and other road safety rules, under-trained drivers in Hyderabad also neglect a major safety measure: putting up the ‘L’ sticker on the vehicle during the learning period.

While putting up the sticker holds significance in alerting fellow commuters, most drivers often skip it either out of hesitation, or out of negligence and lack of awareness. When spoken with Ameenpur Inspector on this, he said, “The glass of the backside was broken, making it difficult to ascertain if the sticker was there.”
Speaking of the enforcement part, a senior official from the traffic department told the Deccan Chronicle, “There is no such Section of the law that mandates putting up the sticker. It's mostly a guideline, so we haven't fined anyone.”

On the potential solutions front, GEM Motors Driving School coach Merella Mahesh highlighted the benefits of using driving simulators in training. “Simulators are very useful for learners to help them drive the basics in a safe, controlled environment before they take to actual roads. It builds confidence and helps them understand vehicle controls and traffic scenarios without risking anyone’s safety,” he said.