Primus Partners has released its latest thought leadership report, Rethinking Driver Training: A Road to Safer Traffic, urging comprehensive reforms in India’s driver training and licensing ecosystem to address the country’s ongoing road safety challenges.
The report emphasizes that despite improvements in road infrastructure, stricter traffic laws, and enhanced enforcement efforts, road accidents and fatalities in India continue to rise. This trend, according to Primus Partners, highlights deeper behavioural and systemic issues that current measures alone have not been able to resolve.
A key finding of the report identifies driver preparedness as a critical gap in the system. It notes that a significant number of drivers enter the roads without formal training, while many receive minimal or no skill reinforcement after obtaining their licences. This lack of structured training and continuous evaluation contributes to unsafe driving practices and increased accident risks.
The thought leadership piece calls for a more structured, technology-enabled, and skill-focused driver training framework to improve road safety outcomes across the country. By strengthening driver education and introducing periodic skill upgrades, the report suggests India can take meaningful steps toward reducing accidents and saving lives.
It further underscores that India’s current licensing framework remains largely procedural, with limited focus on assessing real-world driving competence such as hazard perception, defensive driving, and decision-making under complex traffic conditions. This gap, the report argues, weakens the effectiveness of broader road safety interventions.
Commenting on the findings, Aarti Harbhajanka, Co-founder and Managing Director, Primus Partners, said, “Rethinking driver training is not a peripheral reform but a foundational one. Safer roads ultimately depend on drivers’ awareness, judgement and sense of responsibility, which must be built through structured and behaviour-oriented training systems.”
Adding to this, Raghavendra Kumar, popularly known as the Helmet Man of India, said, “Road safety is not just about rules and regulations, it is a mindset that must be cultivated from an early age and reinforced consistently through life. Every day, we see lives lost due to lack of awareness, poor judgement, and inadequate training. If we want to truly change outcomes on our roads, we must focus on building responsible behaviour through structured and continuous driver training. Creating informed, disciplined and aware drivers is the most powerful way to prevent accidents and protect lives.”
Further, Shri S.N Dhole, Head- Technical Secretariat, Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, said, “Road safety in India has seen significant advancements through stronger vehicle standards and regulatory frameworks over the years. However, safety is not determined by engineering alone. The competence, discipline and preparedness of drivers remain critical to ensuring these standards translate into real-world outcomes. Strengthening driver training through structured learning, objective testing and continuous skill reinforcement is essential to making the licensing system a true measure of capability. This report presents a timely and constructive pathway to align driver training frameworks with India’s broader road safety goals.”
The report positions structured driver training as a high-impact and scalable solution, recommending a shift towards competency-based licensing, mandatory training frameworks, and continuous skill reinforcement. It outlines a phased reform approach, including stronger training standards, technology-enabled testing, and long-term behavioural monitoring mechanisms.
By placing driver capability at the centre of road safety policy, the report calls for a transition from a reactive, enforcement-led model to a more preventive and competency-driven system aimed at reducing accidents and saving lives.
