Road Safety-Time for
Action
Expansion
of transport network is a necessary prerequisite for growth, and urbanization
an almost certain corollary. So, as India India
To
ensure a “safe
system” in road travel, it is imperative to augment road infrastructure,
develop the safety mechanism in vehicles, change the behaviour of drivers and road users, and
improve the emergency and other post-crash services. These are the four Es in
road safety, Education, Enfoncement, Engineering, Environment and Emergency care.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2009, in its first Global Status Report on
Road Safety, identified road accidents as the “biggest
killers” across the world. The report says about 1.2
million people die and 50 million get affected in road accidents globally every
year. A decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020) has been adopted with a goal to reduce the fatalities from road accidents by 50
percent.
The Government has adopted a National Road Safety Policy in 2010 which
emphasizes the importance of creating awareness about the various aspects of
road safety, and its socio-economic implications and developing a road safety
information database.
The
Government has also come up with a draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014
with stronger punitive action and penalty for traffic violations and road safety forms a major component of the proposed Act. The 2014 Bill, now put
up on the site of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for public
comments, proposes modernisation of the road transport infrastructure, improvement in the
quality of vehicles on the roads and simplification in the procedure to obtain driving licence through a Unified Driver
Licensing System for the entire country.
The
use of safety
equipment like helmets, seat belts for
all passengers including those in rear seats and high visibility clothing for
two wheelers has been made
mandatory in the proposed Act. The safety of children has also been taken into
account by requiring to make use of child safety and restraint systems. The
proposed Bill has set a target of saving 2 lakh lives in the first five years,
increasing the national GDP by 4% by improving safety and efficiency of road
transport. Under ‘Make in India
The
Government has already launched a pilot project for cashless treatment of road
accidents in a few stretches like Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch on NH-8 in 2013-14,
Ranchi-Rargaon-Mahulia stretch of NH-33 and Vadodara-Mumbai stretch of NH-8 in
2014-15. This is to save lives of accident victims by providing prompt and
appropriate medical care during the 'golden hour' that is the first 48 hours, within a limit of Rs.30,000/-. A 24/7 call centre with toll free number
1033 has also been activated on these stretches. The data from the pilot
project would be utilised for formulating a Pan-India
scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims.
In order to reduce the number of
accidents, the Government is identifying major accident “Black Spots” on the
roads. An accident Black Spot is a stretch of road where the
level of risk of accidents is higher than the surrounding areas. Crashes tend
to be concentrated at these relatively high-risk locations. The data on black spots are now required to be reported by the
states/UTs to the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. An analysis of these spots will help
identify the risk factor and put
corrective safety measures in place. Details
of 726 black spots have been compiled from across the country. Out of these, about 190 spots have already been analyzed and
corrective measures have been put in place at these spots.
Road
safety is for public good. The Road Safety Policy and the proposed Act, both
put emphasis on enhancing public awareness
and educating people about their roles in making the road
travel safe. Keeping this in mind, every year in January, 'Road Safety Week’ is
organised for sensitisation of various stakeholders. The aim of this campaign
is to highlight the need of safe road travel by applying just simple rules.
Variety
of programs about the methods and necessities of the road safety like the use
of helmets or seat belts while driving, medical check-up camps, driving
training workshops and competitive events at educational institutions are mounted for different target groups like the
road travellers, drivers and also school children, students and youth. On the
other hand, activities should be undertaken for improving public transport
system, proper management of traffic system and strict observance of emission
norms. Each year a specific theme is chosen to create awareness. Some such
themes like “Build a Safety Culture for Sustainable Supply Chain”, “Safety is not just a slogan, It’s a way of life”, “Walk for Road Safety”, “Stay Alive, don’t drink and drive” and “Road Safety A Mission, Not Intermission”, etc have already been highlighted during the
observance of the week.
The 27th Road
