Accident- prone 

Accident- prone 

Context

The most effective measure to keep roads safe is enforcement of rules with zero tolerance to violations. But as anyone who uses India’s roads knows only too well, that is not an administrative priority

Road safety: not an administrative priority

As anyone who uses India’s roads knows that road safety via strict enforcement of rules is not an administrative priority

• Lax implementation of SC directions: Even the periodic directions of the Supreme Court in a public interest case, Dr. S. Rajasekaran v. Union of India, have not produced any dramatic change in the official attitude
• In spite of the court setting up the Committee on Road Safety and appointing an amicus curiae to help implement its recommendations, it is mostly business as usual for the police in enforcing road rules, for engineers tasked with forming roads and pavements, and transport officials in charge of licensing

Figures

The death of 1,50,785 people in accidents in 2016, which represents a 3.2% rise over the previous year, indicates the scale of the challenge

SC guidelines

• Road Safety Action Plan: The most important among SC guidelines is the Road Safety Action Plan that each State and Union Territory must announce by March 2018, and roll out after giving due publicity. Police forces and transport bureaucracies should not wait for formalisation of the plan, and should start enforcing rules relating to lane-based driving, using CCTV cameras to penalise offenders, and conducting safety audits along with experts
• District Road Safety Committee: The orders of the Supreme Court provide a road map, and the direction to States to form a District Road Safety Committee headed by the Collector before January 31, 2018 should ensure that someone is accountable when citizens file complaints on hazardous conditions

Committee on Road Safety

• It bears pointing out that the court-appointed Committee on Road Safety has written to States on the need to prosecute every case of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, seeking imprisonment and fine, and to treat driving on the wrong side of the carriageway as an offence under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code, which can lead to imprisonment, and not merely under the Motor Vehicles Act. Stringent penalties have a lower chance of being imposed, compared to fines that are proportionate to the offence. Yet, even the existing minor penalties are not being imposed, and road conditions remain hazardous due to poor engineering

Absence of scientific approach

Author states that absence of a scientific approach towards accident investigation remains a major factor in fixing responsibility as pointed out by the Sundar Committee of the Ministry of Road Transport in 2007

Things to know:-

Sundar Committee of Ministry of Road Transport (2007)

The main recommendations of the Committee include

• Creation of a National Road Safety & Traffic Management Board: It would be an Apex body at national level to promote road safety and traffic management in the country to be constituted through an Act of the Parliament with members and experts drawn from the various fields including road engineering, automobile engineering, traffic laws, medical care, etc. Board would also have powers to issue directions with regard to corrective measures and conduct safety audits
• Setting up of state level bodies: The Committee, in its Report, has also recommended setting up of the state level bodies namely State Road Safety Boards as the issue of road safety is required to be taken up vigorously at all-India level

Functions: The functions of the State Board would be to aid and advise State Governments on matters relating to road safety & traffic management, coordinate road safety & traffic management functions with State level agencies, specify minimum standards for design, construction and operation of roads other than National Highways, providing minimum standards for establishing and operating trauma care facilities, commission safety audits to monitor compliance with standards, specify minimum standards for design and manufacture of vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles, recommend measures for enquiry and redressal of complaints and grievance relating to road safety & traffic management, etc.

• Funding: To provide flow of funds, the Committee has suggested earmarking of 1% of total proceeds of cess on diesel and petrol for Road Safety Fund. Some part of the assistance to the State Board is proposed to be released on the basis of performance of the State in promoting the cause of road safety
• Decriminalization of road accidents: With regard to decriminalization of road accident, the Committee has observed that traffic accidents are registered as medico-legal cases and the private hospitals are reluctant to accept the road accident victim to avoid getting embroiled into medico-legal case. The problem is further aggravated due to the requirement that attending doctors have to spend considerable time in appearing in Courts/Tribunals when these cases come up for hearing
  • Suggestion: It has been suggested by the Committee that these road accidents should be de-linked from the criminal aspect. It has been suggested that it should be the primary duty of the attending doctor to provide medical aid to the victim without waiting for registration of case

Committee on Road Safety

The committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, was formed on April 22, 2014 by the apex court on the basis of a PIL to measure and monitor the implementation of road safety laws in the country

• The Justice Radhakrishnan committee states that 1,37,572 persons have been killed in 2013 according to statistics from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
• It said India has one percent of total vehicle population in the world and a “staggering” 10 percent road accident related deaths
• Committee has asked the Transport Ministry to introduce regulations for Automatic Headlights On (AHO) on two-wheelers and uniform crash test requirements for all category of vehicles
• The committee has so far submitted three reports to the Supreme from October last year to March 2015. It has pointed out serious lapses in implementation of safety laws by States, which has led to increasing number of road fatalities
• Directions: Some of its directions include,
  • Tightening of road patrols on highways
  • Establishment of road safety fund to which a portion of traffic fines collected would go to finance road safety expenses and remove encroachments on pedestrian paths
  • Keep under temporary suspension the driving licence of drivers involved in fatal accidents

Steps being taken by the Ministry of Road safety & Transport

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken a number of steps to prevent   road accidents as per details mentioned under:

• National Road Safety policy: The Government has approved a National Road Safety Policy. This Policy outlines various    policy measures such as promoting awareness, encouraging safer road infrastructure including application of intelligent transport, enforcement of safety laws trauma care etc.
• National Road Safety Council: The Government has constituted the National Road Safety Council as the apex body to take policy decisions in matters of road safety. The Ministry has requested all States/UTs for setting up of State Road Safety Council and District Road Safety Committees, and to hold their meetings regularly
• Identification of Black spots:  High priority has been accorded to identification and rectification of black spots (accident prone spots) on national highways. A total of  789 such black spots have been identified for improvement
• Model driving training institutes: Setting up of model driving training institutes in States and refresher training to drivers of Heavy Motor Vehicle in the unorganized sector
• National Highway Accident Relief Service (NHARS): Providing cranes and ambulances to various State Governments under the National Highway Accident Relief Service Scheme for development on National Highways

United Nations & Road Safety

On 10 May 2010, the General Assembly adopted resolution which proclaimed the period 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels

Brasilia declaration on Road Safety

Hosted by the Government of Brazil on 18-19 November 2015 in Brasilia, Brazil, and co-sponsored by WHO, the 2nd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety represented a historic opportunity to chart progress at the mid-point of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020

• At the close of the Conference, the 2200 delegates adopted the “Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety” through which they agreed ways to halve road traffic deaths by the end of this decade – a key milestone within the new Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.6
  • SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • Target 3.6: By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
• It highlights strategies to ensure the safety of all road users, particularly by improving laws and enforcement; making roads safer through infrastructural modifications; ensuring that vehicles are equipped with life-saving technologies; and enhancing emergency trauma care systems