Every 4 minutes, a life is lost in an accident on India’s streets. This startup wants to change that

Road accidents are exploding in India. The United Nations says that one death is reported every four minutes on the streets of India, making it the most accident prone country in the world.

These accidents are mostly the drivers’ fault as the country lacks adequate training infrastructure. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed to set up more Institute of Driving, Training & Research but this is yet to materialise.

The existing training schools just teach you how to go from point A to B dangerously, Mahesh Gidwani realized when he accompanied his wife on her training sessions. He learned how to drive while he was working in the US, where training is more detail-oriented.

“We were encouraged to read the manual carefully whereas my wife here was given a piece of paper to read up on the signals signs and answer multiple choice questions. Theory classes aren’t taken seriously and most trainers don’t give proper instructions,” says Gidwani.

So he quit his job as technical architect for Dell in March 2014 to overcome roadblocks to learning how to drive in India. His startup Drivekool is presently only aggregating driving schools. He wants to tap into every segment of the system including intervention with transport authorities for setting up a trainers’ school, on-road assistance, and more transparent, digital, user friendly systems.

“A huge amount of time and energy is spent in trying to find a driver who can provide training at convenient times for you,” says Gidwani. “The learner usually also prefers to skip peak traffic hours which leaves fewer time slots. Finding a trainer for these slots gets tough.”

While it’s easy to get contact details for driving schools on Just Dial and Yellow Pages, the novelty of Drivekool is showing only those trainers that are available at the time you need at your location, just by clicking a few buttons.

The company is also adding a layer of safety factor to its offering. It is launching an app that can be accessed only by its users. It will send trainer and car details, pick up time and date, link to track your location, and the company’s helpline number, which can be shared by the user to anyone he chooses. The app also tracks how many kilometers the user drove during the training session, number of right, left, and U-turns practised, and speed limit. It will also feature reviews and ratings.

The initiative comes in the wake of the Uber rape tragedy in the country’s capital. The founder claims that currently there are no regulations for a company like theirs. However, he claims to have verified every training school on-board.

“We are just a technology company that aggregates services and don’t fall under any regulations for now,” says Gidwani.

Today, after signing up on Drivekool, a user can choose the city, area, and dates for taking driving classes from the drop-down menu on the site, and search for availability. The portal then lists the relevant driving schools with rates, duration of training, and other details.

Users can then pick tentative slots with any driving school and book. After filling in personal details, the system sends email and SMS confirmations to both parties.

It claims to have served 1000 customers by partnering with 85 driving schools in Bangalore.