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Kolkata will soon have a Road Safety Institute with a driving track over 10 acres to train drivers under controlled conditions.

Nitin Dossa, vice President, Federation of Indian Auto Associations (FIAA) and also vice president, Alliance Internationale de Tourisme (the international body of auto associations across 127 countries) said that the regional auto associations would develop Road Safety Institutes across the country that would have a driving track over 10 acres and could train a driver in around 15 days' time.

"We are planning to have such institutes in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, apart from Kolkata. The Western India Auto Association(WIAA) will develop the first two, while the Auto Association of Eastern India (AAEI) will work on the Kolkata institute", he added. All the three institutes are expected to be operational by 2010.

Dossa also claimed that Sumantra Chowdhury, additional chief secretary, transport department of West Bengal had promised to provide land near Rajarhat, a satellite township in the outskirts of the city. For the other two institutes, WIAA will be purchasing the land directly.

The cost of developing such an institute would be around Rs 4 crore apart from the land cost, Dossa said. "We already run a similar campus over one acre in Ahmedabad and train commercial vehicle drivers. We are also training the Guajrat state transport department and municipal department drivers", he said.

The Castrol Institute of Motoring run by WIAA in Ahmedabad trains around 40,000 drivers annually. Meanwhil, after Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, AAEI has launched Driving Training Simulators in the city. The simulator supplied by Technotrove Systems of Mumbai is designed to look like a prototype of a car with all the necessary attachments like brake, accelerator, steering, clutch and gear.

The driver would be subjected to real-life experiences that he might confront while on road. It gives an experience of driving in a variety of terrains and difficult climatic conditions like foggy, snowy and cloudy weathers. Each machine costs around Rs 15 lakh and FIAA plans to launch similar systems in Nagpur, Pune and Rajkot later during the year.

8th April, 09: Business Standard