The study, which is a joint venture between Maruti Suzuki and transport department, revealed that the average monthly income of more than 69% commercial drivers in Uttarakhand is less than Rs 8000 while only 10.65% drivers’ monthly income is over Rs12,000. The study also found out that 64% drivers drive up to 10 hours a day under stressful conditions whereas 14% are forced to drive more than 14 hours a day, which means they don’t take required rest or sleep.
Ashish Shukla, deputy director, IDTR Dehradun, told TOI, “Commercial drivers are generally blamed for every accident occurring on the road involving a commercial vehicle. We wanted to find out the socio-economic status of commercial drivers in Uttarakhand, the environment in which they are working, wages, working hours and their family life, which has a serious impact on their driving and lead to accidents as well.”
During the study which extended over a period of six to eight months, a closed ended simple questionnaire covering all relevant details related to driver’s socio-economic status was given to commercial drivers. About 1,512 commercial drivers from different parts of Uttarakhand participated in the study.
“The study has revealed some disturbing facts. Around 47% commercial drivers don’t get a weekly off due to their nature of job. Work without break gets exhaustive and may lead to accidents. We were shocked to learn that some of the drivers had never heard of ‘weekly off’,” said Shukla.
Despite immense risk involved in commercial driving, 57.7% drivers are not covered under any accident insurance, study revealed. Adding to the misery, 48.55% of commercial drivers said they spent less than eight days in a month with their family due to long driving assignments.
According to the IDTR study, 17.26% commercial drivers are not satisfied with their job and are willing to shift from driving to some other occupation if they get an opportunity. “Their disinterest in driving occupation again makes them highly prone to accidents,” said Shukla.
The IDTR has submitted the report to the transport commissioner’s office, seeking action on the findings so that better working environment could be provided to the commercial drivers.