To bring down the fatalities in the state from 14 per day to at least the national average of seven, the Punjab Government has decided to conduct a Crash Investigation of all the major road accidents in the state.
The proposed investigation would help in ascertaining the reasons for accidents which could have happened due to the engineering fault, lack of enforcement, vehicle fault, among others, so that remedial measures can be initiated.
Besides, the Government has also decided to conduct a third party audit of all vulnerable road stretches in the State by an independent agency.
The decisions were taken during the meeting of the Punjab State Road Safety Council (PSRSC), headed by the state Transport Minister Razia Sultana, to review the road safety measures and action taken by the stakeholders on implementation of road safety laws in the State.
The Minister issued directions to the officials concerned to implement some major decisions, including purchase of reflectors to cover nearly 50,000 stray cattle and rectify all the black spots by March 31, 2021.
During the meeting, it was decided to expedite the purchase of equipment for road safety like speed guns, breath analyzers, besides filling up of vacant posts in lead agencies and implementation of directions issued by the Supreme Court Committee of Road Safety.The Minister advised all the agencies involved in the road safety to work in mission mode so that precious lives can be saved.
“As many as 502 road accidents with stray animals are reported in Punjab during the last three years (2015-2018) in which 370 people lost their lives, 157 seriously injured, and 59 got minor injuries,” said an official spokesperson of the Department.
Spokesperson said that the problem becomes more serious due to foggy conditions during the months of December to February. “The meeting also decided that due to intense foggy conditions in the State, there is a need to put fluorescent reflectors on stray cattle and for this purpose, the Council will incur the expenditure of nearly Rs 25 lakhs for the purchase of reflectors to cover nearly 50,000 stray cattle in the state,” added the spokesperson.
Informing about black spots, the spokesperson said that an accident black spot is a road corridor of about 500-meter-long stretch on which either five road accidents involving fatalities and grievous injuries had been reported during the last three calendar years or 10 fatalities during the last three years.
“Total 391 black spots have been identified on the national highways in Punjab. NHAI informed the meeting that 91 black spots have already been rectified,” said the spokesperson adding that the Council directed the NHAI and PWD to rectify all the black spots by March 31, 2021.