Sir,

It is indeed a good news that the long-pending Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill has been passed by both the Houses of the Parliament to infuse greater momentum to bring down the accidents on our roads. Presently, according to statistics, road accidents in India constitute a whopping 12 % of world accidents.

Raising the fines by a quantum jump for various traffic offences is a welcome development as despite various measures including the interest taken by the Supreme Court, there was no indication of downward trend and now hopefully it will bring down the incidents of road accidents (SOM dated June 28).

Since Karnataka ranks high in the accident rate in India, it is hoped that the Bill will bring down the accidents. Statistics reveal that majority of those who die in road accidents are in the age group of 18 and 35 years and it not only adversely impacts on the nation’s economy but also causes trauma to the near and dear ones. Needless to say that concurrent with stiff increase of fines there are several other issues that need to be addressed.

Some of the more important ones are: Firstly, issue of licences should follow stricter norms; secondly, the black spots on the roads where accidents occur need to be corrected; thirdly, road design itself has to be improved; fourthly, footpaths have to be provided; fifthly, there must be a streamlined system for admitting injured persons to the Hospital within the ‘Golden Hour’; sixthly, public also should respond positively with the authorities and lastly, the Government must facilitate the Traffic Police on various issues to keep their morale high so as to enable them to exercise strict control in implementation of regulating transport rules and regulations so that the focus is for achieving zero tolerance on traffic offenders.

– H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Saraswathipuramm, 30.6.2019

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