Driving delight

"The A-Star is a great car — zippy, powerful, with loads of safety features like ABS (anti skid braking system) and airbags,” says 24-year-old Zubin Antalia of his new proud possession, presented to him when he won the first ever title of Maruti Suzuki-Autocar Young Driver 2009 in March. Antalia triumphed in a nationwide contest which gave the green signal not to speed but to safe driving skills.

Young Driver 2009 contest winner Zubin Antalia with Maruti Suzuki’s Mayank Pareek (left) and Autocar’s Hormazd Sorabjee; (below) Antalia and his prize

In a country where traffic rules are noticed more in the breach than in the observance, Maruti Suzuki and Autocar India buckled down to the task of promoting safe driving, evaluating contestants on their knowledge of traffic regulations, awareness of road safety and actual driving skill. Smoothness, vehicle control and presence of mind in emergency situations were the other parameters taken into account. Open to all aged 18-30 who had a valid driving license, the competition was spread over two months and had 4,031 participants across 12 cities.

In the first phase, participants were judged in an online theory test on traffic rules, awareness of safety and knowledge of their cars. Says Autocar editor Hormazd Sorabjee: "The general lack of awareness of traffic rules and safety was evident from the online tests, with just 13 out of the 4,000 drivers clocking a full score. About 47 percent scored between 50-74 marks and 22.4 percent scored less than 50 marks…In the simulator test, which focuses on road discipline among drivers, a lot of veteran and expert drivers faced hiccups in controlling the simulated car, driving within speed limit, honking when required and other good driving practices.”

Young footballer Porus Shroff (third from left and inset) gets his first global exposure at the Mediterranean International Cup championship in Europe from April 6-12, 2009

In the final stage, 32 contestants drove on the test tracks of the Institute of Driving Training and Research, Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi. "The contest was a little tough, but if you do drive safe on normal roads on a daily basis, it’s easy to incorporate that in the test,” says Antalia who runs a business called Dixon Enterprises, established by his father Hosang in the 1980s, which is into the designing and manufacturing of display fixtures put up in retail shops and malls. He would like to spread the safety first message to young drivers across the country, he says. "India is the number one nation in the world in road accident fatalities with over one lakh deaths every year on our roads. Around 78 percent of these accidents happen due to the driver’s fault. We suffer from low awareness on the need for quality driving training and lack of modern infrastructure for the same,” stated Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki executive officer (marketing and sales) while presenting the grand prize. Through its National Road Safety mission launched last December the company plans to train 500,000 people in safe driving in the next three years across India.