Are we stupid?
“You think we are stupid?” Imran Khan asks in a raised, anger-filled voice.
We are at one of the regular morning driver meetings, where we come together to share what happened the day before or discuss the most recent round trip completed before returning to base. The brief and philosophy of these sessions are rooted in a simple belief: none other than the practitioners — the drivers themselves — have the ‘real’ story to narrate. Not us, the meeting conductors.
Such open, frank talk reaches peers far more effectively and registers quickly. Why? Because the narrator isn’t telling a cock-and-bull story; he is sharing real-life experience. It isn’t the bookish knowledge most instructors peddle. Yes, once upon a time, those instructors might have practised what they preach. But no longer.
This disconnect becomes obvious when the taught quietly ask the teachers: “When was the last time you drove a truck on our roads?”
There is usually no answer.
Imran is thin, tall, and bearded. He has been driving trucks for more than a decade, and I have known him for at least six years. He squats on the grassy ground while his colleagues adopt a proper Padmasana sitting posture. I have never seen him wearing the company uniform; he is always in a long white pyjama and jibba, with a long white towel capping his head.
Why this sudden outburst? His reaction was triggered by the constant reminder of Smith’s Five Defensive Driving Principles. Why repeat the same stuff every day, every time we gather? You think we are stupid? Got it?
Imran’s record is clean: no accidents, minor or major. He has never been challenged or penalised for improper or dangerous driving. He has an impeccable safety record. “Kuch naya to bolo?” (Say something new) is his blunt message to the trainers.
Well, the counter-question remains: what is there new to say? Has the repeated advisory led to fewer accidents? If you look at the road fatalities data, the answer is a resounding “No.” Why? Carelessness. Laparvahi.
Mobile phone use while driving remains a major killer. Reading or texting messages, watching movies, or scrolling through reels is on the rise. Does it mean the safety messages have no impact? One could say so, despite endless warnings in every format — from posters to radio and TV advisories using celebrities to canvass the cause.
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“Of course, like the Ten Commandments, the Defensive Driving Principles are permanent. They are etched in stone,” the late Krishnamurti used to say. He was a reputed safety coach at Transystems, a TCI-Mitsui joint venture.
Drivers waiting for a load at a Toyota plant on the outskirts of Bengaluru must sit through these mandatory training sessions, followed by a sumptuous free breakfast. No training, no load. It is a fantastic, well-articulated routine.
Krishnamurti’s logic was simple. The repetition responds to the low attention span of truck drivers. Making them sit in a classroom for 60 to 90 minutes to “educate” them on the safety of the cargo, the vehicle, and themselves is entirely warranted, he argued.
“They listen, capture, and retain only a tiny portion of what’s being taught. Through multiple sittings, we hope they grasp more over a period of time,” he would explain.
Another trainer, Koushlendra (above), who has been in the driver-education space for over six years, takes a smarter approach. He opens the daily meetings by asking the drivers to raise any immediate issues from their recent road experiences.
Meanwhile, Hari Kaushik, an NSDC-certified freelance trainer, points out that regulations change and technological innovations are constantly entering the truck cabin. “There is a constant flow of new information to be shared because drivers are not regular newspaper readers,” he notes. Drivers need to be updated.
The drivers themselves agree that their attention spans are short, admitting that the sessions can get dull at times. There is no escape for them, indeed.
Are the lessons imparted useful? They nod.
But at the same time, they raise another incredibly apt question: “How much training do non-truck drivers receive?”
I have no answer. Do you?
