Stringent Motor Vehicles Act

oon, one can expect a more stringent Motor Vehicles Act, state-of-the-art fitness centres to check road worthiness of vehicles in all states and safer road designs to contain the burgeoning number of road deaths in the country. As India ranks first in the world in the number of persons killed in road accidents, superseding even China, the issue of safety on roads seems to be gaining importance at public forums. And experts feel that its time to act, not just contemplate. At one such road safety conference organised in the capital by International Road Federation (IRF), secretary, ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), Brahm Dutt said: "The ministry will soon set up well-equipped fitness test centres in the country for vehicle certification, which will become mandatory every year. It is a matter of concern that India has overtaken all countries in road accidents and deaths, as about 1,30,000 deaths occurred in 2008 due to road accidents in India, about 10% of world's total fatal accidents. And, about 40% of these took place on the highways.'' Another area of concern lack of driver training is also being addressed as the ministry is planning major reforms in this area. "We gave money to 13 states to create proper driver training schools, but only two have come up so far. The whole system of issuance of driving licences needs to be changed and some recommendations in this regard can be expected in two months,'' said S K Dash, joint secretary, road transport. Dr Mark Rosenberg, CEO of Task Force for Global Health Inc, called road accidents the perfect plague. "Estimates suggest that 50 million people will be lost to road accidents by 2050 worldwide. There are tools to stop this epidemic, all one needs to do is implement these,'' he said. He gave the example of Sweden, where all traffic lights were replaced by roundabouts and the death rates came down by 40%. "The view taken was that red lights compel drivers to speed as there is a tendency to go faster when one sees an amber signal,'' he explained. Delhi's obsession with flyovers and high-speed roads also came under the scanner as it was felt that such road designs are only making the roads more unsafe. "If roads allow faster cars, one needs to ensure that the faster cars don't come into contact with human beings on the road. In my opinion, all road building should be banned for six-months and restarted only after reviewing all the road designs,'' said Dinesh Mohan of IIT Delhi. Said K K Kapila, vice chairman, IRF: "Annual sales of passenger vehicles in India are set to nearly double to 2 million units by 2010 and sales of commercial vehicles may more than double to 1 million units. But road maintenance is under-funded.''

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