The Transport Department on Tuesday claimed that there has been a drop of 5.3% in road accidents and nearly 9% in related fatalities across Karnataka.
They arrived at this conclusion by comparing data from January to September 2016 with that of the corresponding period in 2017. Transport Commissioner B. Dayananda attributed this drop to regulatory and administrative measures by the Road Safety Cell.
The number of accidents dropped from 33,437 (2016) to 31,658 (2017) during the study period while fatalities reduced from 8,371 to 7,640. There has been a marginal drop in the number of injured — from 41,217 to 39,879.
“We appraised the committee appointed by the Supreme Court during its recent visit, and it appreciated the positive trend,” said Mr. Dayananda.
“The State government is in the process of establishing a road safety authority by upgrading the Road Safety Cell. The establishment of the authority will help take up measures in an effective manner as it is empowered with administrative and regulatory powers.”
The ‘Road Accidents in India – 2016’ report, released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways a few months ago, showed that Karnataka had the third highest number of accidents in India, and the State was fourth when it came to road accident fatalities reported. In 2016, 44,403 cases of road accidents and 11,133 fatalities were reported in the State. Bengaluru saw 5,323 road accidents in 2016, of which 790 were fatal, in the same period.
Department to revisit ban on bike taxis in Bengaluru
The Transport Department, which had come down heavily on app-based cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber when they started operating bike taxis in the city — on the grounds that the service was illegal — has decided to revisit the proposal. This will come as a relief to people who have been pressing for bike taxis to be allowed to operate as they help tackle the problem of last-mile connectivity.
Mr. Dayananda on Tuesday said the department was consulting with stakeholders, including Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). “Bike taxis are operational in various cities such as Goa, Jaipur and Gurugram. We are also deliberating on formulating rules for bike taxi services. We have held a couple of consultation meeting with the stakeholders, but no concrete decision has been taken yet.”
The official said the BMRCL proposal to introduce rent-a-bike service from metro stations had got legal sanction.
e-rickshaws
In addition to bike taxis, the department is also deliberating on whether to allow e-rickshaws to ply in Bengaluru. A few years ago, the proposal received resistance from the traffic police who argued that they were not suitable for the city traffic as their maximum speed was only 20 kmph.
RC suspension for vehicles with defective silencers
Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) in Bengaluru will carry out a drive to keep a check on motor vehicles fitted with defective silencers. Registration certificates (RC) of vehicles found violating the rules will be suspended for four months. Action will be taken against any two-wheeler or car owner found using defective silencers that causes noise pollution, in the line of drunk and driving cases, said the Transport Commissioner.
“We will also ask the traffic police to refer cases for suspension of RCs after filing cases against the owners of vehicles with defective silencers,” said Mr. Dayananda.
No subsidy for 12,000 two-stroke auto owners
The Transport Department, which has set April 2018 as the deadline for two-stroke engine autorickshaw drivers to shift to four-stroke engine ones in Bengaluru, has decided to give the subsidy to only 10,000 auto owners.
The city has 22,000 two-stroke autorickshaws, which means that 12,000 owners will not be able to avail themselves of the subsidy. “The State government has given a budgetary provision of ₹30 crore for subsidy and we can cover 10,000 autorickshaw. We can provide the subsidy based on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the decision of the government,” said Mr. Dayananda.
What’s more, the department has failed to provide subsidies for 1,000 auto drivers who had shifted to four-stroke engines almost a year ago. The Commissioner said because of technical snags the subsidy had not been credited, and that it would be paid shortly.
