The Nano is Great, But What About Driver Safety?

Professor Zak’s lectures and several of our readings have referenced the Tata Nano, India’s cheap, four-wheel remedy for the shortcomings of bikes and scooters. While the car satisfies the long-held desire of many Indians to own an automobile, it brings to light an essential question pertaining to safety: How can India train its vast population to be safe drivers? An article from the New York Times, printed around the time of the Nano’s initial release at the end of 2007, underscores and addresses this question. The article suggests that while the Nano is an ingenious innovation, the existing transportation infrastructure in India may not be ready for a mass transition from bikes and scooters to automobiles. The narrow, poorly paved roads in India’s major cities ensure that the flow of urban traffic in India takes the form of an anarchic free-for-all. This reality, combined with few opportunities for rank and file Indians to enroll in affordable driver training programs, makes the prospect of tens of millions of Nanos on the road a somewhat frightening one.

The need for bureaucratic efficiency in India is also problematic for driver safety. With the arrival of the Nano, the Indian government has had to administer a tremendous number of driver’s license tests over a very short time. The Government’s need to accommodate so many potential drivers in just the last couple of years has ensured that the standard test for a license in India is worryingly simple. Furthermore, some Indians are able to purchase licenses for the right price.

With the problem of Indian transportation safety being such a pressing one, there is a clear need for affordable driver training in India today. It seems as though this need could be met through a new social venture. Such a venture would require a significant amount of—human and financial—capital, but could be successfully launched by a resourceful, right-minded social entrepreneur. This entrepreneur could tap into a global market, as cheap cars such as the Nano will surely soon become widely available in many countries besides India with poor transportation infrastructures and large pools of untrained drivers.