Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari on January 13, 2020, reiterated his Ministry’s commitment for making roads safer for all the road users. He said it will continue with the efforts to reduce road accident fatalities through engaging larger communities and stakeholders in various awareness activities on road safety to encourage everyone to join hands in making roads safer.
Addressing a Road Safety Stakeholders’ Meet in New Delhi, Gadkari called upon the large number of students present in the function to become the brand ambassadors of road safety to bring about the behavioural and transformative change in the youths of the country. He said youth is the most affected community in the road accidents.
Gadkari said the IRAD project launched by his Ministry will not only enhance the analytical capabilities based on international best practice, but will also help to perform analysis based on collected data for further improvement/corrective measures to be taken at accident spot/accident prone areas by the concerned Road Authority. He said that around 30,000 tablets shall be provided to Police departments of various States/UTs for capturing the accidents related data, according to a PIB release.
Speaking on this occasion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh expressed concern at the increasing road accident deaths in the country saying that the number is far more than the casualties due to natural disasters and terror incidents. He said it is very painful that nearly 1.5 lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in our country in year 2018 and a lot more got injured. Most of the deaths took place due to over speeding, which has been identified as one of the leading causes behind road accidents resulting in around 97,500 deaths.
Rajnath urged people to make a ‘New Year resolution’ of following safety rules. Rajnath called upon youth to use social media, i.e. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram to raise awareness about the pressing need of road safety. He stressed that the use of TVs and mobiles in cars or while driving has become a menace adding that science and technology should be used to save lives.
Secretary, Road Transport & Highways, Dr Sanjeev Ranjan said that Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019 is the most important step towards implementation of multi-pronged strategies across various pillars of road safety that is 4E’s. The Act proposes Strict penalties for traffic violations. It also has provision of cashless treatment of accident victims during the golden hour. He further said that Government is also focusing on strengthening E-governance by creating provision for online driving licenses, and online registration of vehicles. Now the Central Government can make rules for the electronic monitoring and enforcement and States Governments can ensure the same on National Highways, State Highways and in Urban cities to ensure road safety using latest technology.
In order to increase the effectiveness, the earlier named “District Road Safety Committee” has been reconstituted as “Member of Parliaments’ Road Safety Committee” to enforce measures and promote awareness among road users. Good Samaritans have been encouraged by protecting them from any civil/criminal action and the recent Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, has given legislative backing to the mandate prescribed by the Supreme Court, and the Guidelines and SOP issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
A road safety pledge was also administered to all present at the function by Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh. A short film called ‘Rehana’ for creating awareness amongst the road users regarding the Good Samaritan law was released on this occasion.
Based up on the Road Accident Report 2018 published by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Tamil Nadu, which has registered maximum reduction in accident related deaths of 3,941 in 2018 with respect to 2017 registering a decline 24.4%, year, has been adjudged the Best Performing State in terms of Road safety. Recognising the commendable work done by the State, the Ministers gave away the award of “Best Performing State in Road Safety” to Tamil Nadu which was received by the team from the State led by MR Vijayabaskar, Minister for Transport.