Road safety experts have expressed concern at about 75 Percent of traffic control devices including road signs, traffic signals, speed cameras and road markings being faulty and not up to Indian Road Congress (IRC) Code as well as International standards in the National capital Delhi leading to millions of traffic violations with no fault of road users .
“ More than 50 per cent of the road signs in Delhi are against the UN code of road signs. With the new amended Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) hapless road users are liable to be prosecuted with high penalties such as imprisonment up to 1 year and fine up to Rs 5000 due to faulty road signs and signals defeating the very purpose of the provisions of the new legislation.” Said Dr Rohit Baluja, president of Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) while speaking at a webinar on ‘Enforcement Innovations for Road safety’ organized by the India chapter of International Road Federation (IRF) a global body working for safer and better roads world wide.
“The major problem in Delhi is that at most of the traffic light intersections the primary and secondary traffic signals are not functioning as per the prescribed standards or are wrongly installed. One of the major deficiencies at present is the duration of amber light clearance before the red light appears is so short that in present conditions a large percentage of drivers are being caught without any fault. Delhi government and traffic police should find technology-based solutions including Intelligent Transportation system (ITS), automated traffic lights system and issuing of violation challans through cameras,” said Dr. Baluja.
“India accounts for more than 11 per cent of the global road accident deaths mainly due to absence of safety measures . Many fatalities and serious injuries on Indian roads could have been saved if recommended road safety actions had been implemented, United Nations has set a global ‘Decade of Action’ plan for Road Safety which aims to reduce road fatalities by 50 per cent till 2030 and Indian Road Transport and Highway Minister Mr Nitin Gadkari has set year 2025 as target for reducing road deaths by 50% “ said Mr Satish Parakh, President .International Road Federation , India chapter (IRF-IC) while speaking at the webinar .
“International Road Federation, India Chapter (IRF-IC) has embarked upon an on ground Road Safety initiative covering Seven worst affected highway stretches of 150-200 kms each in the 7 States with highest road accidents including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Kerala and Karnataka. The objective of the exercise is to transform these highway stretches, in association with the State Governments, into forgiving roads with almost zero fatalities and serious injuries. The transformation is intended through a series of corrective road safety management measures addressing the Es of road safety including , Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency Care.” Said Mr Parakh.
“The amended Motor Vehicle Act has given no biting teeth to the road safety authorities and some of the states including Gujarat have further diluted the act . Despite so many road accident death mostly taking place on National and state highways no round the clock road safety enforcement in the country.. A single dedicated enforcement like National Highway Road Safety Police (NHRSP) is the need of the hour “ said Mr T Krishna Prasad, Director General Police and Road Safety Authority , Telangana State while speaking at the webinar.
“Other than enforcing law on traffic violations the road engineering and related agencies should also be taken into consideration . In Odisha each year about 350 black spots on national and state highways are spotted and the concerned authorities informed . Most of them are removed or rectified on paper and same Black spots are spotted again next year. Now state government has deputed a dedicated team of experts to remove the black spots. For improving licensing a two ay online and offline training and education has been mandatory for obtaining a driving license. “ said Mr Arun Bothra, Commissioner , Odisha State Transport Corporation while speaking at the webinar.
“Road signages in most of highways in the state are faulty , all the road signages and traffic lights will be corrected as per global standards with next Two years About 30,000 way side First respondents on highways in including puncture and tea stall owners will be given First respondent training in the state at most venerable places on the state and national highways within next Six months starting October 8 Next month” said Mr Bothra
