CHENNAI: Devoid of test tracks or open ground, road transport officials are now eyeing busy stretches to conduct driving test for people who have applied for their license.
Those who had applied for their two-wheeler licenses were in for a surprise on Tuesday when their driving skills were tested on a busy stretch near the Koyambedu market.
As vehicles screeched past the busy road near Koyambedu market, around 20 novices, including women, assembled with their two-wheelers at the Koyambedu market road just opposite the biomethanation plant to put their skills to test and get their licenses.
When Express spoke to an RTO official conducting the test, he said the test was being conducted on the main road as there is lack of open space in the city.
“The usual facility is slightly inundated and so we are conducting the test here. The officials are aware of the lack of open space,” said the RTO official.
Asked if it was not too dangerous to conduct a test for novice drivers on a busy road, the official replied that he had thought that it would have been a lesser used stretch. “We never expected that this stretch would have so much traffic,” said the official.
For the last couple of years, this particular stretch has been busy since Chennai Metro has acquired a market road that links Poonamalee High Road.
A two-wheeler owner who had applied for the license said he was shocked when officials asked him to report near Koyambedu market. “I was wondering where they would conduct the test in that area,” he said. Most of the others who had applied for licenses refused to talk.
An RTO official opined that new test tracks at Taramani for South Chennai and Gumidipoondi for North Chennai are an immediate necessity. “If the facility is not available, how will we issue licences?” he said. When City Express contacted a top transport department official, he assured that he would look into the issue.