Road safety bill: Stress on penalty, not safety

The draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, which seeks to replace the existing Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, instead of aiming at zero mortality, is targeting to save 2,00,000 lives in the first five years through reduction in road traffic accident deaths by strict implementation of laws. Additionally, it envisages a 4 per cent GDP improvement on account of increased efficiency and safety of road transport sector. The global safety report of WHO states that India has the highest road traffic accident rate worldwide with over 140,000 deaths annually, beating even China. While annually the nation loses almost 1.5 per cent of its GDP on account of road accidents, we are not even spending 10 per cent of that amount to make our roads safe. Every year almost 1.3 million people die in road mishaps, globally.

Stringent punishment

The draft Bill stresses on improving the system of catching an offender, streamlining issuance of driving licences, penalty, and registration of vehicles and introduction of digital systems. To check speed limit, it proposes use of the intelligent speed adaptation, driver alert control and eye drowsiness detector, but these are to be managed and made functional by the states at their level. The proposed road safety bill is focused more technology solutions than urban design solutions. There is also no clarity on monitoring and compliance strategies and institutional arrangements.

The main focus of the bill is on stronger punitive action and penalty. It has proposed steep penalties of up to Rs 3 lakh, along with a minimum seven-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances, besides huge fines for driving violations. The bill proposes strict penalties and heavy fines for violating signals. The proposed fine varies from Rs 5,000 to 50,000. It proposes fine of Rs 5 lakh per vehicle, as well as imprisonment, for faulty manufacturing design, besides cancellation of licences for rash and negligent driving and holds both the manufacturer and the user liable.

In case of using vehicle in unsafe conditions such as using a vehicle which as prior defects, violates the safety standards; a penalty of Rs 1 lakh or imprisonment for six months, which may extend to one year or both, is proposed. It also proposes vehicle fitness testing and worthiness road tests for all cars and two-wheelers every five years; multi-modal integration of bus rapid transport and intra-city transport; and lays emphasis on safety of schoolchildren/women/persons with disability Questions have been raised about the method of fixing the fines.

“The proposed fines are about 10 times higher than what they should be. The penalty amount has not been decided by keeping India’s per capita income in view. Secondly, as the deterrent is quite high it can lead to under-reporting which is already a major issue in India. A similar trend was seen in countries like Libya and Indonesia when extreme penalties were imposed,” says Geetam Tiwari, professor with the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian institute of Technology-Delhi.

Urban road design ignored

This bill has completely ignored the role of urban design in ensuring safe access. Countries such as Sweden, Japan, UK, and Netherlands have achieved reduction of accidents up to 60- 70 per cent, majorly through proper road design. The modal share of people using public transport or cycling is much higher than people using cars. The bill does not talk about a zero tolerance policy. The bill will have to address the problem of road design that is currently oriented towards increasing the speed of vehicles. The roads in India are designed keeping motorized vehicles in mind than pedestrians. Constructing wider and straight roads can only increase speed, even though the speed limit is limited.

Way ahead Roads in India have to be designed keeping land uses and road activities in mind. Road design should include needs of pedestrians and cyclists. Globally, countries are moving towards zero tolerance policy on accidents and transforming urban and road design for safety. Road engineering and design can also influence the risk of crash involvement and the severity of crashes that do occur. The bill has the right intentions. But it needs more holistic approach with strong compliance strategies to prevent road injury and deaths. Along with punitive action it requires a much stronger preventive action. (Courtesy: Down To Earth)

By Ruchita Bansal