Systems perspective in road safety - An improvement of novice driver training in India

The road accidents and the resulting fatalities are on a rise in India. Statistics point out that a large majority of the accidents involve novice drivers, and are a result of human errors. In order to study the causes of these human errors, we aim to study the effect of driver training on novice drivers. Improper visualization of road transportation system, overestimation of driving skills and underestimation of risks involved in driving may also have a strong influence on driver errors. Under this premise, this paper presents the summary of a study that draws its inferences from the perceptions of drivers about road transportation system and its associated safety aspects, in order to understand the role of driver training in risk estimation and perception in novice drivers. A comparative study on the perceptions of experienced and novice drivers, and a direct observation study of the current driver training methods is conducted identify the gaps in the safety perceptions of novice drivers. The study also brings to notice the importance and a lack thereof systems perspective in the current training methods of novice drivers.