With about 11,000 accidents taking place in Haryana every year and as many as 4,000 people losing their lives, the State government has announced a road safety policy to halve the number of fatalities and injuries by the year 2025.
As part of the policy announced on Thursday, the State government intends to increase coordination between the departments concerned and seek joint effort from all stakeholders and citizens. The government also plans to undertake an in-depth analysis of the factors affecting road safety, said a spokesperson of the Transport Department.
The Transport Department, which is the nodal agency for road safety, will now create a road safety fund to take steps that will reduce accidents and generate awareness about road safety.
Gurgaon sees the highest number of fatal accidents and deaths every year. The major accident prone areas in Gurgaon are National Highway-8, Sohna road, Pataudi Road, Farrukhnagar, Faridabad road, Tauru-Palwal road and Sohna-Ballabgarh road.
The policy also looks to enhance road infrastructure, safety of vulnerable road users, lay emphasis on traffic safety education and training, ensure strict enforcement of traffic laws, emergency medical assistance to accident victims, research for road safety and strengthening institutional arrangements.
The spokesperson added that the State government plans to promote planning and construction of well-designed roads in both rural and urban regions as per the latest international standards. The government plans to identify problem areas on existing roads and place speed breakers and traffic lights, re-design roads at these spots, and construct subways and cyclist and pedestrian paths, besides undertaking road improvement initiatives.
In addition, the government will also take steps to promote statutory periodic inspections and take stringent measures to improve air quality by checking emissions from vehicles. The spokesperson said that the process of driver training, licensing and awareness would be made more efficient to improve competence of drivers. More improvements are expected to be introduced to ensure qualitative improvement in evaluating the skills of all driving licence applicants.
