“The population of Australia has doubled during the last 40 years, but the number of road accidents has shown a significant decline due to better road traffic management and enforcement. Good road design, construction, better driving skills, and enforcement have brought a significant decline in road accidents,” Trade Commissioner & Consul-Commercial, Australian Trade and Investment Commission, Grayson Perry, said here on Friday.
“The well-equipped ambulances and trauma care centres have helped in reducing the road accident deaths significantly. In India, GVK EMRI ambulances are doing excellent service in shifting accident victims to hospitals. There are ample opportunities for our governments to work together for improvement of road safety in India,” Mr. Perry told The Hindu on the sidelines of the two-day National Workshop on Road Safety, which began here on Friday.
“Australia is ready to partner with India on improvement of road safety by giving its expertise for the development of infrastructure, road engineering, and policy advice,” he said.
“We did a preliminary study on a demo corridor in Delhi a few months ago and made some recommendations for removing the black spots and redesign of intersection to reduce accidents. I plan to present the demo project report to the Union Minister for Road Transport,” Mr. Perry informed.
Road safety conference
The Australian Road Safety Conference will be held in Canberra from September 6 to 8. A number of Indian delegates are expected to attend and speak on road safety aspects. Universities in Australia are offering programmes on road safety and the Indian delegates would also be visiting some of the universities for possible academic exchanges.
Mr. Perry said that drivers would be given points based on their driving skills.
“When they are caught for over speeding and other traffic violations, the points would be removed and, ultimately, they would lose their licence. They would have to go through the three-stage process of Learner’s License, Provisional License (for 2 years), and, finally, Open License (permanent license), if they want a driving licence again,” he said.
“Strict enforcement of road rules is vital to bring down road accidents in India,” he added.
