Working Groups on Road Safety: Report

The five working groups on road safety that were set up by the ministry of road transport & highways have submitted their reports in November 2011. The different working groups constituted on road safety were- education, enforcement, engineering (roads as well as vehicles) and emergency. The groups were constituted following the March 2011 meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) to lay out the macro and micro dimensions with potential solutions to road safety and to suggest short term and long term measures to curb road accidents in the country. According to ministerial sources, after examining the recommendations, the department is expected to place them before the NRSC for finalizing the detailed decadal action plan on road safety at the national level which could be replicated by all governments at state and district levels. Road traffic injuries in 2004 was the 9th leading cause of death and at the current rates by 2030 is expected to be the 5th leading cause of death  overtaking diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The loss to the Indian economy due to fatalities and accident injuries is estimated at 3% of GDP and is particularly severe as 52.7% of road accident victims are in the age group of 25 to 65 years with pedestrians, bicycle and two wheelers who comprise the most unprotected road users accounting for around 39% of all fatalities. The United Nations has rightly proclaimed the present decade as decade of action on road safety and have called upon all member countries to prepare a decadal action plan for implementation in their respective countries so that the present rising trend on road accident  stabilizes and is revered by the year 2020 . RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON EDUCATION a) A National Road Safety Policy and supporting laws to be formulated. b) State and District Road Safety Councils need to be constituted/ activated at the State level.  These Councils would have representatives from all stake-holders. This is a ubiquitous problem and needs to be legislated and compliance reporting system should be included. c) 50 percent of all fines collected should be devoted to road safety activities, which should be legislated so that it becomes mandatory for States to adopt. d) A separate Road Safety Education and Awareness Fund needs to be created, which would be solely used for this purpose, in partnership with the government, corporate, voluntary organisations, etc. e) Insurance laws should also be modified so that the person who causes the accident has to bear a certain proportion of insurance claim, depending on severity of negligence. The laws should provide higher compensation to the injured (as against to the next of kin of the dead) who get disabled for life and become a burden on the society and their families. f) Introduce refresher trainings and eliminate fake certificates to promote quality driving parameters of model drivers’ training schools and other training institutes under PPP model. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON ENGINEERING (ROADS) a) All National and State Highways should have signages and road markings as per IRC Standard. b) Road Safety Audit  for entire National Highways and State Highways network to be completed including capacity building for Safety Auditors such as developing  training course content , indentifying institutions and imparting training c) Implementation of other road safety engineering measures like Speed management measures, provision of service roads, provision of pedestrians/cattle crossings, improvements of inter-State border check posts on NHs, provision of truck lay  bays along NHs and provision of bus bays, bus shelter along NHs and  Closure of unauthorized median openings. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON ENGINEERING (Vehicles) a) Major improvements in vehicle designs are required with introduction of full vehicle crash tests, EMC and high technology solutions for better visibility. b) Enhancement of standards related to vehicle stability and braking should be implemented. Standardization of bus bodies, truck bodies and trailers would greatly enhance road safety. c) Introduce mandatory Inspection and Certification (I&C) requirements for all categories of vehicle (Transport vehicles as well as non‐transport vehicles, including 2 wheelers). d) Establish computerized I&C Centers all across the country. e) Define policies and procedures for End of Life and scrapping of un‐usable vehicles. f) Establish control mechanism for use of spurious parts in the aftermarket by covering more and more components under mandatory marking scheme. g) Establish comprehensive Road Accident Data Analysis h) For effective planning and execution, there should be National Accident Research Center (mother organization) and data collection at State Accident Research Centers (daughter organizations). Department of Heavy Industry has already planned Accident Research Center under NATRiP. Center under NATRiP needs to be considered while making future plans. i) Effective use of IT & Electronics for vehicle‐road interfaces and transport management. RECOMMENDATIONS OF WORKING GROUP ON EMERGENCY CARE a) Review & Audit of the Existing Schemes such as National Highway Trauma Care Project (NHTCP,) National Highways Accident Relief Services Scheme (NHARSS) Incident Management System (IMS) –NHAI, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System. b) Enunciate a National Accident Relief Policy & a National Trauma System Plan. c) Deployment of a Pan-India Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Care Network to ensure a primary crash response time of 8 – 10 mins. This network should be adequately supported by a unified toll free number, seamless communication, centralized dispatch, medical direction, triage protocols & crash rescue units. d) Setting up of Regional Referral Trauma Centers across the country supported by a Heli-Ambulance network to ensure speedy care to the severely injured e) Standardize minimum national specifications for various types of Emergency Response Vehicles. RECOMMENDATIONS OF WORKING GROUP ON ENFORCEMENT a)  Amendment of Motor Vehicles Act 1988: The penalty structure of 1988 Act has become totally redundant and the fines are not deterrence for traffic rule violators.  As recommended by the Committee to review of Motor Vehicles Act, the Working Group has suggested increasing penalties and fines for traffic offences. While revising the penalties for traffic offences, a clause needs to be inserted in the Amendment Act itself that every three years there should be revision of fine based on consumer price index. b) Overloading of Commercial Vehicles: The commercial vehicle, if found overloaded should be prosecuted with mandatory criminal case under the provisions of Damage to Public Property Act against the transporter, the consignor and the consignee.  As per Motor Vehicles Act provisions and rules, police is not empowered to check overloading as Transport Department is the only competent agency to check overloading.  All state police forces need to be empowered to check overloading and for this a large number of weighing machines should be installed so that no overloading takes place. c) Use of Road Safety Devices like Helmet, Seat Belt: At present, some state governments have not enforced wearing of helmet and in some states women have been exempted from wearing helmets.  The Committee has recommended that there must be no exemption in wearing of helmet and awareness should be created that helmet should be properly strapped by the road users Similarly, wearing of seat belt should be compulsory for the driver and the front passenger and on national highways it should be compulsory for even the passengers in the back seat. d) Drunken Driving: According to Section 185 of Motor Vehicle Act, the penalty for violation of this rule is punishable with a fine of Rs. 2,000 or 6 months imprisonment or both for the first offence.  All enforcement agencies may impress upon the courts of the concerned cities/states that in graver cases of drunken driving, imprisonment must be provided to discourage drunken driving. e) Digitization of Driving Licenses: There is urgent need of linking up of transport authorities to ensure that no person is able to get a driving licence from more than one authority.  There is also need of digitization of the existing driving licence holders. This is also necessary because when driving licence of a defaulter in traffic offence is suspended he should not be able to get driving licence from any other transport authority. f) Speed Calming measures on Highways near inhabited areas:  During construction of highways, there should be sufficient provision of crossover for pedestrians and sufficient safety devices like central verge, railing, and grills on both sides of the highways.  There is also need for speed calming measures like table top speed breakers, rumbler strips on highways particularly on vulnerable locations so that vehicles slow down at appropriate places. g) Wayside amenities for long distance drivers:  There is urgent need to establish these amenities on roadsides at national and other highways because accidents generally happen due to fatigue and over work.  Transporters need to be educated to have a reasonable schedule of movement of vehicle which will not force drivers to drive long hours without sleep and rest. h) Compulsory installation of GPS in Commercial Vehicles:   There should be compulsory GPS devise installation in all commercial vehicles. i)  Apex Road Safety Body at the State and District Level: There is urgent need that a state level road safety committee headed by a senior functionary of government and should have representative from all stakeholders so that road safety scenario is reviewed periodically.