IIT-Madras launches ‘Three-Step Training Process’

CHENNAI: To bridge the gap between the actual trainers in the Driver Training Institute and the School's capacity and capability to obtain a better evaluation of the drivers' knowledge, skill and practice, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-Madras) on Monday launched a 'Three-Step Training Process' (3STP).

"The '3STP' initiative aims to bring a lean methodology to audit, provide capacity building and rating of driver training institutes and schools to impart the required training to the drivers. This initiative by IIT-Madras's Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS), shall bring a more organized structure among the driver training institutes and schools and introduce a wide span of vocation and employment of more skilled trainers, " said a release from IIT-Madras.

Commending the initiative, Director General of Police (DGP), Tamil Nadu, Shankar Jiwal said that everyone should come forward to reduce the fatal accidents.

"I must congratulate the professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian and other stakeholders for doing a great job on this report. We have been speaking about road safety for a long time. There have been empirical and statistical studies but there is a disconnect between the two. For the last two years, there has been a remarkable dip in the number of accidents, almost around 11 per cent last year, and this year, almost 8 per cent. However, the 'cause and effect' remains an enigma for us. We would be glad if academia, especially initiatives like CoERS, could unravel it for us, " he said.

"If the number of accidents goes down, it leads to a lot of positive outcomes, top of which is reduction in loss of lives and limb. There are hidden savings for GDP as well in terms of damage to vehicles and reduction in the number of man-hours the police spend on paperwork, registering cases, appearing in the court, and so on. One accident reduces a lot of savings. Everybody looks forward to the reduction in cases, especially fatal accidents. However, the shift of the concrete measures that can be taken to translate studies to the field is still not happening. We should have translated a lot of these into the field, " added Jiwal.

Speaking of the proposal, Director of IIT-Madras V Kamakoti said that the initiative is a step in the right direction and training of drivers is very important.

"IIT-Madras in the last couple of years is focused on 'IIT Madras for All' under which many programs have been launched. Today, with the advanced technologies especially the autonomous driving, it takes a significant amount of time to understand all the technologies. People have to adapt themselves from an IC (Internal Combustion) engine car to an electric vehicle. The training of drivers is very important. I do not know when autonomous driving will come to India in full but whenever it does, good training for drivers is important. This initiative is a step in the right direction, " he added.

The initiative was flagged off by Shankar Jiwal, DGP of Tamil Nadu and V Kamakoti, Director of IIT-Madras on October 11, 2022.

In the same platform announcement of the '3 Gate Licensing System' (3GL) that evaluates for driver's knowledge in Gate 1, driving skill in various scenarios in a safe environment such as a simulator as Gate 2, and practice of skills in a real world environment in Gate 3 was also made.