The undriveables: Indians who just can't pass the test

Buckle up your seat belt! What you are going to read next is pretty shocking. Nearly 90% Indians failed to answer the basic question related to motoring. An online survey on motoring showed that only 11.8% cleared the test. Mumbai was second only to Delhi in successfully passing the test.

The questions were based on the driver's knowledge while driving, maintenance, vehicle controls, fuel conservation, emergency situations, road signs, first aid, etc. The study was conducted by Maruti Suzuki Autocar Young Driver 2014 contest.

"The survey gives us a clear idea about the lack of driving knowledge among people. India accounts for about 10% of road accident fatalities worldwide. Lack of driver training and a lax licensing procedure are the root cause for such a high death toll," said Hormazd Sorabjee, editor, Autocar India.

Driving tests were conducted with a sample size of 24,313 in the age group of 18 to 30 in 47 cities across 11 states, but only 2,864 candidates answered most of the basic questions.

The capital had the highest number of individuals passing followed by Mumbai, but people from Jaipur, Patna, Ahmedabad and Goa, did not even secure minimum passing mark to clear the test.

In fact, the passing per cent even at the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) are abysmally low. "Tests on basic driving rules are conducted at our RTOs when an individual applies for learners licence, but the passing rate is low at around 30 to 40 per cent," informed an official.

Daily around 150-200 driving licences are issued by each of the three RTOs of Mumbai, despite the high number of applicants failing the elementary tests.