Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Road Safety (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/)

-   -   Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety and its actual implementation (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/190439-supreme-court-committee-road-safety-its-actual-implementation.html)

One of the problems India faces in its developing economy is that of increased road traffic. As the number of vehicles increase , with a crumbling infrastructure , poor implementation of traffic rules , ignorant drivers and a mix of old and new vehicles there is a horrendous increase in the number of accidents and resultant injury and death.

I would dare to add that rampant corruption in government departments including the transport department and the traffic police is making the matters worse. This leads any policy implementation extremely difficult.

In a growing economy, a constant flow of men and material is required to keep up the pace of the economy. Unfortunately the kind of infrastructure growth required is still not seen in India.

I quote certain facts from “ROAD ACCIDENTS IN INDIA - 2015”
a report from Government of India Ministry of Road Transport and Highways , Transport Research Wing.

1. India is a signatory to Brasilia Declaration and is committed to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020.

2. However, with one of the highest motorisation growth rate in the world accompanied by rapid expansion in road network and urbanisation over the years, our country is faced with serious impacts on road safety levels.

3. The total number of road accidents increased by 2.5 per cent from 4,89,400 in 2014 to 5,01,423 in 2015. The total number of persons killed in road accidents increased by 4.6 per cent from 1,39,671 in 2014 to 1,46,133 in 2015.

4. Road accident injuries have also increased by 1.4 per cent from 4,93,474 in 2014 to 5,00,279 in 2015. The severity of road accidents, measured in terms of number of persons killed per 100 accidents has increased from 28.5 in 2014 to 29.1 in 2015.

5. The analysis of road accident data 2015 reveals that about 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads which further translates into 57 accidents and loss of 17 lives on an average every hour in our country.

6. About 54.1 per cent of all persons killed in road accidents are in the 15 - 34 years age group during the year 2015.

7. In 2015, Mumbai had the highest number of road accidents (23,468) while Delhi had the highest number of deaths (1622) due to road accidents.

8. Driver’s fault has been revealed as the single most responsible factor for road accidents, killings and injuries on all roads in the country over a long period of time. Driver’s fault accounted for 77.1 per cent of total road accidents during 2015 as against 78.8 per cent during 2014. Within the category of drivers’ fault, road accidents caused and persons killed due to exceeding lawful speed/over speeding by drivers accounted for a share of 62.2 per cent (2,40,463 out of 3,86,481 accidents) and 61.0 per cent (64,633 out of 1,06,021 deaths) respectively. However taking into account the total road accidents and total road accident killings, the share of over speeding comes to 47.9 per cent (2,40,463 out of 5,01,423 accidents ) and 44.2 per cent (64,633 out of 1,46,133 deaths) respectively.

9. Accidents and deaths caused due to “Intake of alcohol/drugs” within the category of drivers ‘fault accounted for 4.2 per cent (16,298 out of 3,86,481 accidents) and 6.4 per cent (6,755 out of 1,06,021 deaths) respectively. However, taking into account the total road accidents and total road accident killings, the share of intake of alcohol/drugs comes to 3.3 per cent (16,298 out of 5,01,423 accidents ) and 4.6 per cent (6,755 out of 1,46,133 deaths) respectively.

10. During the year 2015, overloaded vehicles caused 77,116 accidents and 25,199 road accidental deaths. It constituted a share of 15.4 per cent and 17.2 per cent respectively in total road accidents and fatalities in the country.

11. Two Wheelers accounted for a highest share in total road accidents and next to it was the share of the group of Cars, Jeeps &Taxis in 2015 as reported by the States/UTs. Share of two wheelers in total road accidents has increased continuously from 26.3 per cent in 2013 to 27.3 per cent in 2014 and 28.8 per cent in 2015. Next to two wheelers, the share of cars, jeeps and taxis has also gone up slightly from 22.2 per cent in 2013 to 22.7 per cent in 2014 and 23.6 per cent in 2015.

11.Rural areas are more prone to road accidents, accounting for 53.8 per cent of total road accidents during 2015. The percentage of road accident fatalities (61.0 per cent) and injuries (59.1 per cent) were also more in rural areas as compared to the urban areas in the country.

12. Generally speaking, traffic junctions are accident prone areas. About 49 per cent of total accidents took place on the junctions itself during the calendar year 2015 as against 57 per cent reported during 2014.

As we can all make out the scenario is pretty grim but several initiative by the Government and the Judiciary are trying to change the scenario.

Supreme Court in April 2014 set up a three-member panel to monitor implementation of road safety measures, including emergency medical help to accident victims.
The panel headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan(Ret).
Members Mr S Sundar former secretary, ministry of surface transport, Dr Nishi Mittal former Head of Department of Traffic Engineering and Safety.

The committee gave a wide range of recommendations which is being implemented pan India.
The recommendations affect each of us going on to the road.

I am mentioning a few important points from the report:


1. Ban on sale of alcohol on highways, both National and State highways, to curb the menace of road accident.

2. Pointing out deficiencies in enforcement of the motor vehicles by the state governments, the panel directed the states to strengthen enforcement of law against drunken driving, over speeding and other offences.

3. It suggested for audit of road safety to be conducted by states to ensure that safety standards are incorporated in the design, construction and maintenance of roads.

4. It directed state governments to implement laws on helmet strictly as failure to implement the helmet laws strictly has resulted in high fatality of two-wheeler and pillion riders.

5. It raised concern about lax procedure for issuing driving licenses.

6. It recommended that state governments must take steps to remove hoardings and objects that obstruct driving or distract drivers.

7. Highlighting lack of awareness among people on road safety rules, the panel recommended that state governments must frame a permanent and scientific policy on educating people in this regard.

8. The panel also noted that the states do not have adequate number of trauma centres and the ambulances do not have required medical facilities.

Although a welcome step , what remains to be seen is the implementation part.
The part of guideline which is directly affecting all of us is the stringent punishment for violations of traffic rules.

Directions of the supreme court committee on road safety on 18th August, 2015 says that the driving licences should be suspended for a period of not less than three months under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 read with Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989,

a. In cases of driving at speed exceeding the specified limit.

b. Red light jumping.

c. Carrying overload in good carriages.

d. Carrying persons in good carriages.

e. Driving under the influence of liquor/drugs.

f. Using mobile phone while driving.

Now any judgement error on our part even in the first instance is not a question of few hundred rupees , its a matter of loosing your driving licence for at least 3 months and on repeat incidence the licence can be permanently revoked.

I can speak on behalf of all team bhp members that everyone of us with our utmost sincerity would like to follow every traffic rule in word and spirit.
Inspite of all the best intentions and due care there will be inevitable violations , either because of ignorance (knowing the exact speed limit on a particular road) or circumstances like poor visibility , lack of signs, badly engineered intersections , ridiculously low speed limits set decades back etc.

All of these can bring us in situations where there can be accusations of traffic rule violations which may or may not have been committed by the driver.
Extremely harsh laws with a dishonest implementation is a lethal mix for corruption.
Corruption has always been rampant in India and growing up here one learns quickly how to get away with certain things by paying bribes.
The government machinery just seem to get into life at the slightest possibility of the smallest bribe.
In my view like taxation laws the traffic laws need to be simplified , actual ground reality be taken into consideration and technology be applied to root out corruption.
I would like members to share their practical experiences on these new guidelines.

A few days back while crossing the Kalkaji Mandir intersection coming from Okhla side , crossed the intersection stop line on green light. Few seconds later as I was negotiating through the busy intersection the light changed to amber and then to Red. As I was already beyond the stop line and already inside the intersection when the amber light came up , I proceeded as according to law.
Just around the corner I was confronted by the Traffic policemen. They alleged that I had jumped Red signal and according to the latest Supreme Court guidelines they will impound and suspend my driving licence at least for 3 months.
It was their word against mine, except I had one more trick up my sleeve clap:
I had a dash camera recording every thing.
I really thanked my stars that I had invested in a dash camera which saved my day otherwise either I was to loose my driving licence or would have paid a hefty bribe that day.
The sequence of pictures below shows how everything unfolded.

To help Forum members understand better how to challenge arbitrary DL suspension and how the procedural matters operate.
Ashish Gosain vs Department Of Transport .
The petitioner has challenged the suspension order whereby his driving licence has been suspended under Section 19(1)(d) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-...&meta-geo=----

A dash camera is the most useful piece of equipment you could add on to your car in our country. The very fact that you mention this is in your vehicle recording everything, to someone who is creating an ugly situation on the road deters many people including the traffic cop to act funny. Wondering why the Honorable Supreme court is not making it compulsory for all four wheelers and making it a part of OE equipment. It could save a lot of people from legal hassles and also help resolve MV accident cases fairly and quickly.please:

All this... and still Chennai police's logic is, if you are fully geared up, you are racing and your bike gets impounded. please:

Absolutely right here sir. As a responsible driver, one should invest in a Dashcam. How many of us have gone through the harassment of local villagers, police and unruly motorists. I dont think I would ever be able to drive without a dashcam.
On the other hand, rules have been framed thinking the safety perspective of the motorists. Although corruption is a dirty part of our system, we should engage in safe motoring and support the system.

Good that law is gettin stricter! Hope it gets implemented fairly. The wheels are already in motion. I have known of people already getting the 3 month suspension for crossing speed limit. But should n't it rack up points instead of the first offense ending up in a suspension? Or may be these offenses are serious enough to warrant a suspension

Its good to have strict laws but this is no excuse for not having proper planned infrastructure. We should have properly planned roads, visible and functioning traffic lights. Regarding speed limit, at least in Delhi it is ridiculously low framed decades back eg elevated and fenced Badarpur Faridabad flyway has a speed limit of 50km/hr. As far as I know speed limit in Delhi is 50 km/hr. Just see the road all elevated and fenced, it's almost impossible to drive at 50 on this road.

The general perception of the courts is that the accidents are due to lax laws is totally unfounded. It is a mix of ignorant drivers, poor infrastructure, poor implementation of these laws.

A campaign like Swacch Bharat type is required to control the epidemic of traffic accidents. It has to be community based with education of drivers and general public being the main focus.

Regarding implementation of the law, automation and digitisation should be preferred as opposed to too many boots on the ground.





Traffic police really need to be educated but to a certain extent their scepticism is based on bad behaviour of stunt bikers. Hope we can educate them about the importance of safety gear.

I, along with everyone on the road that they could have managed to were stopped by traffic police in one such road in Dwarka (after taking a left from NH8) , where it was next to impossible to drive at 50 and therefore everyone was beyond the speed limit , we all had our licenses suspended and were all fuming over the ridiculous speed limit.
However, given the horrible driving by majority of people in Delhi NCR (i can seriously write pages on this topic, and i seriously feel the driving standards have sharply fallen [if that was even possible :p} in the past couple of years and the new cab drivers (resulting from rise of ola and uber) are one of the main culprits here), it does somewhat make sense to impose such ridiculously low speed limits in the city, but ofcourse without any drastic actions taken i don't see the current situation improving, i'am seriously considering quitting driving altogether given the extreme level of stress and anger experienced everyday.
However, it was written on the receipt i got that i can continue to drive for a period of 90 days and should produce that receipt when asked by them , will be going to collect my license this week.

Just refer to the court judgement I have quoted above in the thread it lays out the procedures to be followed by the police and the licensing authority. Since police has no authority to give or suspend the driving license, they will seize the license and give you a slip and forward this to the transport department.

The transport department will give you a show cause notice and a date for personal hearing. After this if you are unable to give a good enough explanation then the driving license may be suspended for a period of 3 months. The slip you got will let you drive till this process is completed. At times this may take longer time and you may not get your license back even after 3 month suspension period, so you can get it extended also.

You may not get your license back so soon as you are expecting. Do get in touch with licensing authority from where your license was issued. It is lot more complicated!

Anyways this strict law is only hurting people who won't pay any bribes. For all those novice cab drivers, they will just pay a bribe and get away.

Good to see all these rules implement albeit, due to poor infrastructure and corruption, these may be of very less use.

One another major issue that everyone faces day to day is the "HIGH BEAM" lights. I live in Bangalore and I work in shifts. My travel to office is around 21 Kms one way during odd timings (mostly early mornings). I face a lot of issues with high beamers (especially the cab drivers). Blinking my lights or showing them any signal to dim the lights goes in vein. They look to be least bothered about being in high beam right on the face.

I'm sure nothing can be done immediately to stop them using high beams by default (YES!!! That looks to most their default mode in light).
Yet, I have a suggestion and I'm not sure if this can be implemented, so would need my fellow bhpian's feedback over it.

Just like how all the 2 wheelers got their head lamps ON by default by BS4, with no switch to turn them OFF, can we implement a similar setting on cars too, with the help of the manufacturers.

Suggestion:
The Driver would not have an option to turn on High Beam. He would get only the blinkers. When the car/bike reaches a certain speed (example 60 kmph), the lights would automatically go to high beam and if the speed falls below this cap, it would switch back to Low Beam.

This in plain means, when you are driving at night in city traffic, you could hardly go beyond 60 kmph (at least in Bangalore's traffic) and you by default stay in low beam. If you are going beyond this speed, it means the road if quite free and they are no or less vehicles in front of you, so the impact of your high beam is down to minimum.

> Does this make any sense?
> Anyways for us to report this to the Transport department for consideration?
> Do we have any downside with this suggestion?

Please share your feedback.
Thank You.

Regards,
Highly frustrated high beam hater !!!

While I'm one of those people who follows traffic rules to the T, a recent incident has made me really mad at how badly some rules are being implemented in our roads. The recently built elevated six-lane road between Vikaspuri and Meera Bagh in New Delhi is approximately 4kms long but surprisingly the speed limit being set by our 'distinguished' authorities is just, don't laugh, 50kmph! The other day, I was driving on that elevated road towards Meera Bagh at 60kmph (not realizing such pathetic speed limit on that beautiful open road), which mind you, isn't high speed by any standard on that road. And guess what, traffic police intercepted and issued me challan of 400 bucks and confiscated my driver's license for three months! A few things about this incident -

1. Speed limit of 50kmph on a 4km long beautiful elevator with minimum traffic is such a joke. Or maybe just a quick way to fill their number sheet? They know 50kmph limit on such roads is completely impractical and hence more people would tend to cross the limit and be challaned easily.

2. Bad attitude of traffic police. Even though some of them admitted that the defined speed limit is rubbish on that elevator, most of them would treat you like some rash-driving fugitive being caught. Very disappointing.

3. Ignorance and arrogance of people (no surprises here though). A few days later when I was traveling on the same road at 50kmph, several fellow road users gave us good stares and a few honked ferociously because we were trying to follow the speed limit, a very stupid limit nonetheless. What do you do? Even though the authorities now have put multiple sign boards with speed limit info, people just refuse to follow it and don't shy away from bullying ones who dare to do it. Sigh..

Speed limit all over Delhi is 50 km/hr, at least all major roads. I fail to understand what is the logic of setting such low speed limits.:Frustrati

These babus at the secretariat think that if they set a lower speed limit everyone will follow, going by this logic if they set a speed limit of 20 km/hr no accidents will happen. This seriously needs revision!

By having such low speed limits a guy speeding at 130 km/hr and one traveling at 65 km/hr are clubbed in the same bracket.

I heard that there are plans to revise it but meanwhile I plan to break these ridiculously low speed limits on a bicycle and post them on Delhi Traffic Police. Facebook page lol:

I completely agree with you high beams cause lot of inconvenience and eye fatigue, what I hate more is flashing led headlight from behind.

A lot of times I find high beam useful because the road is not properly illuminated.

I think in Gujarat they make the cars cover their upper part of headlight with a yellow tape something like you see on military vehicles. Can't say if it works but if it does then this could be a good solution.

Thankfully nothing of this sort happened , just went there picked up the license and walked out in 2 minutes flat.
There were envelopes with different dates containing suspended driving licenses in them and the one with my date had atleast 30 , many must have taken it back as the 3 months deadline ended last week, so be assured that no bribes were accepted that day and with such a ridiculous speed limit , everyone was fined. lol:
I strictly followed the speed limit on those roads today and everyone, including the slowest of vehicles (goods carrying autos),bikes, cars were all overtaking me and it felt like that scene from the movie heyy babyy, where everyone including even the walking pedestrians were overtaking them.
It was a new experience for sure, and if it is strictly followed, the worst of drivers should benefit a lot and there will indeed be a lot less mishaps, but ironically they are the last people i expect to stick to the speed limits.

They are not because that day there were 3 slabs they were talking about one was till 80 and the fine was ₹400, the one from 80-100 had a fine of ₹1400 and they said extreme action will be taken for those exceeding 100.

So friends all of us have to start doing this very soon, hopefully they will not be many stumbling blocks like the online Aadhar PAN linking. Will this help in case of accidents? Safety? Buddies what do you feel? http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/aadhaar-to-be-linked-to-driving-licence/article19695992.ece
https://www.oneindia.com/india/how-t...e-2543814.html