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Govt hastens process for setting up board for road safety

New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) Alarmed by the number of fatalities in road accidents in the country, the government has expedited the process of setting up a Road Safety and Traffic Management Board and is preparing to present a Bill for the purpose in the winter session of Parliament.

"We have begun work for setting up of the Board and the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill is likely to be presented in the next session of Parliament," Transport Secretary Brahm Dutt told PTI.

The Board will specify the standards for the design, construction and maintenance of national highways as well as the standards for establishing and operating trauma and para-medical facilities for dealing with traffic related injuries.

It will also conduct safety audits to check compliance with the standards specified by it.

"The Board will have a Chairman and three other full-time members," Dutt said.

The Board will also lay down the minimum safety requirements and standards for the design and manufacture of motor vehicles and specify the conditions for safe usage of such vehicles including the maximum load bearing limits.

The Board is being set up on the recommendation of the Sundar Committee report.

In January 2005, the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure headed by the Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to present a note to the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for the creation of a Directorate of Road Safety and Traffic Management and the amendment of traffic laws as required.

Later, an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) Distinguished Fellow and former Secretary of the Transport Ministry S Sundar was constituted to recommend a structure for the organisation and recommend its role and functions.

The Committee of Secretaries and the Expenditure Finance Committee have already given their nod for setting up the statutory body.

The total number of road accidents on national highways rose to 1,38,922 in 2007 from 1,30,265 in 2004 while the number of persons killed in accidents increased to 40,612 in 2007 from 34,723 in 2004, according to recent government data.

PTI

How nice! Some more committees and boards, some more data crunching, and hopefully nothing to come out of it.:Frustrati
When will someone wake up to the fact that easy procurement of driving licences and inadequate driver training is at the root of all this?

they already know that, but there is no money to be made if that is changed. This way there are bribes for the paandus who catch traffic violators or get people licenses, and more money for the baabus/netas who start these boards to take advantage of things!

'Ten years in jail for causing death by rash driving'

NEW DELHI: The Law Commission has framed a set of drastic recommendations to deal with rash and negligent driving, including that the punishment be raised from two years to a 10-year term and denial of bail.

The Commission has suggested an amendment to Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code which at present pegs the maximum punishment for anyone causing death by rash and negligent driving at two years.

"Keeping in view the present day practical reality, the punishment should be increased to 10 years imprisonment," the law panel said in its 234th report.

Importantly, it said the offence should be made non-bailable, which means the police would have no power to release on bail a person accused of causing death by rash and negligent driving.

The report also seeks to curb the trend among motorists to convert their vehicles illegally to LPG. The commission recommended insertion of a provision in the Motor Vehicles Act "for confiscation of the vehicles fitted with LPG cylinders meant for home kitchen and arrest and prosecution of owners/drivers of such vehicles".

In another important recommendation, the commission said: "There should be no exemption of government vehicles from policy of insurance against third party risk."

The report, submitted by Law Commission's chairperson Justice AR Lakshmanan to law minister Veerappa Moily, seeks to alter the legal regime for rash and negligent driving in a radical way.

What weighed on the minds of the Law Commission was the website data of 1 lakh deaths due to road accidents in India every year. It also quoted the website of a leading automobile major to say that "more than a million people are injured or maimed" and "road accidents cost the country some Rs 550 billion every year".

Besides, the panel took into account accidents caused by drunk driving and said: "Causing death of any person through driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs should be punishable with a minimum imprisonment of two years."

It said road and transport being state subjects, there had been no uniformity in the law and punishment across the country. "There is no comprehensive central legislation to effectively and holistically regulate all kinds of traffic on the roads," it said.

"The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution will be required to be amended for such a comprehensive central legislation. The Law Commission feels that there is a need of a comprehensive Central road traffic law," it said.

Regarding enforcement, it recommended installation of close circuit TV cameras at all vulnerable points to curb unruly traffic and suggested that weigh-bridges be installed at border points to deter overloaded transport vehicles from entering a state.

Link: 'Ten years in jail for causing death by rash driving' - India - NEWS - The Times of India

Rightly said. The decision has to be focused at the grass root level. Taking driving licenses should be made stringent something like in UK where in you need to pass a written exam as well along with the practical test. If the bribery at the RTO level is stopped and if the license seekers are made to toil for their licenses then we can expect some turn around in road safety.

Some more actions being taken - 'Ten years in jail for causing death by rash driving' - India - NEWS - The Times of India :thumbs up

They had to do this as India is amongst one of the top countries having the max deaths in the world due to rash driving.

Sadly there is another thing - BAIL !!! Everyone get's it in India !! Pay 10k and then free !!

Refer OT - saw the news yesterday ? where a low actress in Mumbai was burning a domestic helper minor kid and then was set free after giving 10k and got bail. So sad !!

Another means to earn money for officials, nothing more. No committee can help unless and untill the general road users get more disciplined. This is not going to help.

1) Implementation of present rules.
2) Some changes required in HCV that are simply too dangerous in present form. Lowering height and putting a Bar at the rear are something that need to implemented very seriously.
3) Improving road conditions.
4) Providing quality fuel.

If the above 4 points are taken care of, the situation will show drastic improvement.
These new committee, new plans, etc are of no use now.

Also, please suggest ways to implement/take care of your 4 points above.

I think, in our country any initiative would be seen as "troubling", "money earning". "time wasting" etc etc.

but never ever we think about the positive aspect of the initiative
As one can see from all the comments before this one, the initiative has been written off by majority of the members.

so what ever we hope (in majority) will happen (as we are a democracy)
if no one expects anything positive from such initiatives, in reality nothing will come out of it.

if we positively enforce the initiatives then things would improve.
again this is my view, do not wish to debate right/wrong.

In this case they are proposing a NO BAIL policy. The article says "Importantly, it said the offence should be made non-bailable, which means the police would have no power to release on bail a person accused of causing death by rash and negligent driving."

But as mentioned in another thread, they should start with the root cause - giving driving licenses to people who cannot actually drive.

And other root causes too. This change will be a disaster and will do more harm than good. As does POTA. More draconian laws are not the answer to India's troubles. We need 10% of the laws we have, with deadly serious implementation of the few that matter.

I completely agree agree:
if only i could take my above comment back :)

1) Self Discipline.
2) Improve thinking level of citizens. This is quite a broad and very very vast thing, but the earlier we begin this, the better.

Its all in our thinking level, nothing else.

Can you please note down why this thinking like Money waste, etc comes up in anybody's mind ?
Can you list down the positives of this committee ?

We are yet to get cars with proper roads, forget new rules that define vehicles or the drivers.. The biggest error and reason for accidents are well known since years. We must solve them first before shooting off and making a new institute or rule book.

Since years we know that roads are not good, what is development here ?
Since years we know that fuel quality and quantity are always a suspect, what is done to put a full stop on this ?
Since years we know that getting a license is very easy and moreover, people also get license without actually apprearing for test or passing the test, what is done to abolish this ?

What I am trying to say is this : " Before continuing to construct a building on weak pillars, get the pillars right. After wards, even though the building will have modern polished interiors, if the core/base is weak, it will fall.
Here the building that is under discussion is this new committee. We need to get basics right before this committee comes into existence.
Remember, even a Maruti 800 in hands of an irresponsible driver is very dangerous.

I hope this proposal doesn't go through. While I am all for curbing rash driving, the potential of misuse & wrong punishments is simply too high. I mean, it's the unofficial law in India that the larger vehicle is always at fault. And flashy cars are always speeding.

The proposal should be amended to include a 10 year RI only for drunk drivers (who cause loss of life to 3rd party). THAT I'd support (Related Thread). But in most other case, the current 2 years RI with stronger & focussed implementation is a deterrent enough.