Taking note of accidents befalling the State at regular intervals with the blame being tucked at the doorstep of police, State police have decided to write to the State Government, proposing measures they have mulled to stave off road mishaps. State Director General of Police (DGP) BS Sidhu met Dehradun Regional Transport Officer Dinesh Chandra Pathoi at his office on Tuesday.
They deliberated in details on the steps they have envisaged to curb accidents. After the meeting was over, Sidhu said, “We are going to write to the State Government, explaining the measures we have mulled to checkmate road mishaps.” The proposals to be sent to State Government would contain a litany of measures, meant to keep things under control.
The drivers will be warned if they are caught running vehicles at a speed of over 80 km/h on any road, including the highways. Their driving licenses would be kept on suspension for six months by way of punitive actions. If they are caught again breaking the speed limit their licenses will be cancelled permanently. As per data received from the PHQ, there has been a spurt in road accidents as compared to the last year in the State. Around 1410 road accidents were reported in which 878 persons died and 1531 were seriously injured from January 1 to December 31, 2014 in various parts of the State.
There is a humanitarian proposal too. DGP Sidhu said they have decided to adopt US model under which the license applicants are asked at RTO whether they are willing to donate eyes if fatal accidents happen to them. If they are affirmative their eyes will be harvested in consultation with hospitals specialised in it. Such proposals will be sent to the State transport secretary soon, he added.
In another proposal, police would stress that the drivers, working with the State-run transport facilities must not remain on the wheels for over eight hours at a stretch when they are tasked on covering long stretches. Usually what is found is that they are made to drive for 10/12 hours in one go. This naturally leaves them exhausted. Things turn precarious when they take on the zigzags in the mountainous stretches. It is extremely tough to negotiate the hilly stretches under normal circumstances.
We can easily imagine how tough it turns when a driver negotiates the treacherous hilly stretches after driving for around 10 hours.The drivers of state-run buses on errands of covering long routes should be allowed to drive for eight hours at a stretch. Drivers should be given at least six hours to rest, DGP said.