National Road Safety Council (NRSC) member Kamal Soi said around 1.50 lakh people die every year in road accidents across the country. He demanded installation of speed governors in vehicles as per rules as a measure to bring down the number of fatalities.
Soi, while talking to mediapersons here on Tuesday said, “Around 40 to 50 per cent deaths, out of total 1.5 lakh deaths in road accidents every year, occur due to high speed of vehicles.” He demanded that speed governor or speed limiter system as prescribed by law should be adhered to strictly to prevent road accidents that lead to huge loss of human lives.
NRSC is an advisory body under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, with the objective of improving road safety aspects in road transport sector.
Soi said States like Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are effectively enforcing the speed governor system as per the standards set by Government and that Madhya Pradesh should also follow the suit. “As many as 11,000 people died in road accidents in Madhya Pradesh last year, compared to 10,500 in 2015," he said.
Fitness certificates indiscriminately issued by Transport Officers in Madhya Pradesh without verifying installation of certified Speed limiting Devices/Speed Governors - a scam resulting in death of Innocent people.
The Speed Governor Policy as provided in Rule 118, CMV Rules, 1989 has been enacted by the Centre so as to prevent the large number of motor accidents that are caused by over-speeding transport vehicles. These transport vehicles include buses, trucks etc. which are primarily responsible for perpetrating the menace of Road accidents.
To enforce this Policy, the MP Government, in exercise of its powers under Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has issued a circular to transport authorities in the State on September 16, 2016 requiring them to verify the Trademark/ Symbol Mark of the Manufacturer, Serial No. Granted by the manufacturer, Glossary issued as per AIS 037/ 2004 by an authorized testing agency, Type approval certificate provided by authorized Testing Agency, Audit for the facility of NIC etc.