4.94 India is witnessing swift upward movement of urbanization processes accompanied by rapid motorization. A negative externality associated with expansion in road network, motorization and urbanization in the country is the increase in the road related accidents and deaths. All this makes road safety a vital issue to deal with.
4.95 As per the Ministry‟s Annual Report, road safety is a multi-sectoral and multi- dimensional issue, which incorporates mainly three aspects, namely – Engineering, Enforcement and Education. The Engineering related aspects are being taken care of at the design stage of the NH itself. The Enforcement aspect of the Road Safety is vested with the respective States/Union Territories. The Education aspect of Road Safety is taken care of through campaigns in print and electronic media, with the involvement on Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).
4.96 The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been mandated to formulate policies for road safety so as to minimize road accidents. The important schemes formulated and managed by the Road Safety Cell include publicity programmes, National Highways Accident Relief Service Scheme (NHARSS), refresher training to heavy vehicle drivers in unorganized sector etc. The Committee on Road Safety & Traffic Management set up under the chairmanship of Shri S. Sunder, former Secretary, MoST also formulated and recommended a National Road Safety Policy for consideration of the Government. The National Road Safety Policy envisages greater emphasis on awareness on road safety issues, establishment of road safety information database, strengthening of driving licence system and training, better enforcement of road safety laws etc. The policy also envisages setting up of a dedicated agency namely National Road Safety & Traffic Management Board to oversee the road safety activities in the country.
4.97 The Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways also added the following during the evidence held on 30th March 2010:
“We are aware that with development of national highway under NHDP and with availability of better vehicles, the number of accidents has gone up and the number of people killed in India is the largest. Recently, the Cabinet has approved the recommendations made by the Sundar Committee on revamping
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the Road Safety Organisation and the measures to be taken for improving the road safety. We are now in the process of finalizing the Bill. It is expected that the Bill will be introduced in the Session which will start after the recess. That Bill comprehensively deal with all the aspects of road safety management.”
4.98 The Committee are further informed that Road Safety Bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha in May, 2010, which proposes the creation of a “Board for Road Safety and Traffic Management”. When the Committee enquired about the rationale behind the creation of a separate body, keeping in mind that multiplicity of bodies will only lead to procedural delays, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways elaborated in a written statement as under:
“Road safety is a multi-dimensional issue. In the existing scenario, various road safety aspects are handled in a fragmented manner. There is no mechanism to look into all these issues in a comprehensive manner. The agencies such as the automotive testing institutions, the State Governments, the Highway administration authorities, trauma care management authorities such as Ministry of Health are not single-handedly accountable for road safety issues. Moreover, these institutions have limited role within their periphery of work and cannot be considered as independent policy framing institutions for road safety issues. Their role would remain same for the governance of regulation of vehicular traffic on roads and peripheral work relating thereto. In this scenario, unless a mechanism is put in place to have a dedicated agency to exclusively deal with road safety issues authorizing it to have intensive coordination amongst all these concerned agencies, it would not be possible to achieve the desired objective with regard to various road safety issues. Most of the developed countries have dedicated road safety institutions. Keeping in view the rising number of road accidents in India, it is imperative to take pro-active measures to counter this menace. The National Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill proposed by the Ministry with a view to create National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board with statutory backing is a step in the right direction and is as per the international best practices. Once the Board is set up, it will be empowered to oversee entire road safety activities in the country in consultation with all these stakeholders including the existing agencies. None of the other agencies existing today have the kind of statutory backing as proposed for the Board and hence,
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the question of overlapping of functions would not arise. Moreover, the Board will consult all these agencies before framing up its recommendations and would thus carry considerable weightage for implementation by the Government. An expert committee constituted by the Ministry under the Chairmanship of Shri S. Sundar, Former Secretary (MoST) and Distinguished Fellow, TERI has deliberated all the aspects in detail and has recommended creation of the Board as an effective mechanism to take care of road safety issues in the country. It is further stated that the Ministry has examined the recommendations of the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Bill introduced in Lok Sabha on 04.05.2010. The Ministry is examining various options to make the Bill more comprehensive and objective oriented.”
4.99 When asked to comment on the issue of service roads and safety, the Secretary, Ministry stated the following during briefing:
“….The fact is that NHAI is required to follow the Indian Road Congress manual which prescribes where service road or the under pass should come. That takes into consideration the issues relating to safety. Naturally, where traffic crosses a particular level there should be a service road and of course, wherever the local roads cross there has to be a proper underpass or some different way to see that the local people are not put to any inconvenience.”
4.100 On the issue of Trauma Centres for road accidents, the Secretary added:
“I must say that the Cabinet has approved setting up of 140 such centres by the Health Ministry and not by us. We are required to provide 140 ambulances which we are doing. Cabinet has approved the scheme at the cost of `600 crore. We are very keen that these road safety issues are properly handled.”
4.101 The Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways further added following technical requirements ensuring road safety during evidence:
“……on the four-lane roads, we insisted that there has to be certain width of median in the four-laning. This is to ensure that if there are any accidents, vehicles from one carriageway does not come to the other and cause blockage
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of the road and cause stopping of the carriageway. In certain States like Kerala, we do have acute problem of land acquisition; we tried to do four-lane; we are trying to do in 45 metres width, where normally we require 60 metres width. The result of doing it in less width is that service lanes which we would provide on the sides for local traffic, in 30 metre width or 45 metre width, we simply cannot provide that, which means that between the habitation and the highway, we do not get a shoulder, that is, if somebody goes off the road, there is nothing to sustain him. The roads are not just blacktopped portion; on both sides, we have shoulder; if you go off the road at high speed, you do not immediately overturn. You should be able to go on for some time. In areas where we do not get sufficient width because of land acquisition problem, shoulder provision is not possible, service lane provision is not possible. Also, the median provision on the middle of the road becomes a problem. So, the two are interrelated – getting sufficient width is a technical requirement and it is there to ensure safety; it is there to ensure safe movement of slow moving traffic; it is essential that if we have to provide foot over-bridge, or some underpass, we have some sufficient width so that the slope is not very steep – whether you are going over or under the road. So, these are technical requirements and we cannot waive them easily. These are some of the issues which we would like to place before you.”
4.102 Engineering/technical aspects of “Road Safety” are being taken care of at the design stage of the National Highway (NH) itself. Unfortunately, there are certain sections of National Highways in different parts of the country, where there are recurrence of fatal accidents. One such section referred to by the Committee is near Kooteripattu on NH-45 (140 kilometers from Chennai). 260 people have already died within three years since the opening of this section of highway. When the Committee enquired whether the Ministry was aware about such incidents and actions initiated by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, to address problems of this kind, in a written reply responded that Kooteripattu is grade intersection with vehicular traffic towards Chennai on North, Trichy on South, Pondicherry on East and Gingee on West. This junction is part of project for four laning of Tindivanam-Ulundurpet Section of NH- 45 on BOT basis which has already been widened to four lane and the junction improvement as envisaged in the project has been completed. To prevent accidents at this junction, the concessionaire has provided service roads on both sides of the main carriageway and rumble strips on the cross roads. In addition to the above, blinkers,
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speed limit boards, pedestrian crossing boards, median opening boards, etc have been provided by the concessionaire. Studs have also been placed across the road to indicate the pedestrian crossing and lighting arrangements have also been provided along the road. As frequent accidents are occurring at this junction, the district administration has placed temporary barricades across the road to reduce the speed of the vehicles.
4.103 The Committee again raised the issue of Kooteripattu during the evidence held on 24th September, 2010, stating that in 2009 also, 44 people died at the same place. The Committee asked as to why a foot-over-bridge or a similar structure has not been constructed there, the Chairman, NHAI stated:
“We have no problem doing a pedestrian over-bridge…..…. But the State Government has asked for a complete grade interchange with a flyover, which is quite expensive. We are preparing a report on it. A pedestrian over-bridge at Kooteripattu is no problem, and we can sanction it.”
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