Maharashtra government’s poor performance in road safety has come under the Supreme Court scanner.
The court-appointed committee on road safety has pulled up the State government for negligence in implementation of traffic laws, resulting in a surge of fatalities on highways and expressways in the State.
According to the latest report of the committee, headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, of the total offences registered last year, only a quarter of motorists lost their licences. This in a year when nearly 13,000 people lost their lives in road fatalities across the State. The enforcement of traffic laws in Maharashtra remains poor despite the large number of accidents, the committee has concluded in the report, forwarded to the government on February 13.
According to the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, only 22.77% of the total licences of violators were confiscated in cases where motorists were found driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. In cases related to red-light violations, just 10.42% were forwarded for suspension. Worryingly, this number remained as low as 1.94% in cases of overspeeding, 9.22% in cases of goods vehicles found carrying people, and 14.88% in cases of driving while using cell phones.
The committee, with S. Sundar and Dr. Nishi Mittal as members, has demanded a compliance report from the State by the end of February. The committee said it has on a number of occasions urged the State to forward the maximum number of licences in violation for suspension.
“Contrary to our directions given on August 18 and November 17, 2015, a small percentage of licences were sent for suspension. These directions are not being strictly implemented particularly on State and national highways,” the committee said.
The committee has urged the State to strengthen the management of traffic rules and improve its performance. Maharashtra remains amongst the top three States in terms of road fatalities. In 2018, 35,853 accidents were reported, in which 12,264 motorists lost their lives. Around 938 of these deaths were reported on the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Goa National Highways.
Senior officials said the government has taken note of the report and will submit a compliance report soon.
New policy
A new State Road Safety Policy has also been introduced as part of the Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety of the World Health Organisation, which has tasked Maharashtra with bringing road fatalities down.
“We have also put in place a new road policy to bring road fatalities down to 25% of the current 13,000 deaths reported annually,” an official said.
