The Supreme Court on Monday took a step forward in ensuring safety on roads. It directed the Government to suggest steps for curbing the threat posed by stationary trucks on roads and heavy vehicles carrying protruding iron bars and beams, found to be a major cause behind deaths on roads.
The bench of Justices TS Thakur and JS Khehar decided to examine the issue after the PIl petitioner Savelife Foundation presented data under RTI to show that a staggering number of 3,748 people got killed in 2011 due to dangerously parked trucks, trailers and buses on arterial roads and highways. Incidentally, this data pertained to only 10 States and four Union Territories.
Underlining the need for urgent steps to contain the problem, senior advocate Indu Malhotra who argued the petition identified the lack of law and absence of uniform guidelines as the main causes behind the rising casualties on Indian roads. Besides stationary trucks and trailers, the problem got further compounded by iron bars and beams protruding menacingly out of the vehicle.
According to Rule 93(8) of Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, “No motor vehicle shall be loaded in such a manner that the load or any part thereof extends….to the rear beyond the rearmost part of the vehicle.” However, an exception is provided under this
Rule permitting goods carrier to carry load upto one metre beyond the vehicle’s rear end. Between 2009 and 2011, the number of persons who fell victims to protruding iron rods was 1179.
As part of evolving a set of guidelines, the NGO proposed deletion of the proviso to Rul 93(8), compulsory barricading at a distance of minimum 50 metres from the stationary vehicle, covered trailers to transport iron rods, and in case of accident, fixing liability on the driver, owner and consignee of the goods vehicle.