‘Bring in tough traffic law’

International Road Federation urges passage of new Motor Vehicle Bill

April 14, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:33 am IST - NEW DELHI

Deadly streets:Over 1.4 lakh people die in road accidents in India every year.File photo

Deadly streets:Over 1.4 lakh people die in road accidents in India every year.File photo

: The International Road Federation (IRF), a Geneva-based global body working for better and safer roads world-wide, has appealed to the government and all political parties to help expedite passage of the amended Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill (Motor Vehicle Bill), which can save lives.

Mr. K.K. Kapila, chairman of IRF, said that out of the global 12.4 lakh deaths due to road accidents, India accounts for about 1.4 lakh deaths — the highest in the world.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has to take concrete measures to reduce halve the number of such deaths by 2020 as India is signatory to UN decade of Action for Road safety.

“To reduce fatal road accidents and avoid incidents like the recent Mercedes accident case, where a minor and his parents are expected to get away easily, a tough new amended Motor Vehicle Act with clarification on accountability of vehicle owner for unlicensed driving, hefty fines for traffic violators, make getting driving license more difficult and bring in new laws on vehicle safety is immediately needed,’’ said Mr. Kapila.

“IRF urges all political parties to help in expediting passage of the new amended Road Safety and Traffic Management bill in the coming Parliamentary Session commencing April 25”.

The proposed bill provides for hefty penalties - almost 10 times more than what they pay now - for offences such as over-speeding and drunken driving. It also seeks to raise the compensation for death resulting from a hit-and-run accident to Rs. 1 lakh and Rs. 50,000 for the grievously injured in such incidents.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.