The Coimbatore Consumer Cause has called for granting driving schools with adequate transition time to establish facilities so they could train applicants to take the driving test on the Automated Driving Test Tracks. It drew the government’s attention to the high failure rates of applicants for two-wheeler and four-wheeler driving licences after the introduction of the automated system by select Regional Transport Offices.
The organisation said the current failure rate was about 90% for four-wheeler licence applicants and 30% for two-wheeler applicants at 12 Regional Transport Offices, where the new system has been introduced.
The system has placed the applicants for licences at serious disadvantage because most driving schools do not possess such training facilities, and many impart training only on public roads, it said. Applicants do not learn the skills for manoeuvres and precision driving to successfully complete the automated driving test, the petition said.
Secretary of the consumer body K. Kathirmathiyon called for a reasonable transition period for driving schools to create the required infrastructure, and to ensure that no new driving school licence is granted unless the prescribed training track is established.
The outcome of the new system, meant to improve road safety, could only be realised when learners are given adequate opportunities to practise under conditions similar to the actual test, he said.
In a related development, the Tamil Nadu Light and Heavy Driving School Welfare Association has secured a stay order from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on enforcing the system forthwith.
The Writ petition filed by the association Secretary A. John Martin sought a direction to the Transport Commissioner, Government of Tamil Nadu, to enlarge the width of the intermediate two straight lines in the H-track, and prayed for a directive to the Transport authorities to desist from insisting on having the test in the H-track of the Automated Driving Test Track until the modification is made.
Published - July 12, 2026 01:22 am IST