The Road Transport and Highways Ministry plans to unveil the draft of Motor Vehicles Bill, which aims to reduce the number of deaths in road accidents in a year by half, by bringing in tighter road regulations this Saturday.
The Ministry, which is ready with the draft bill, will send it for inter-ministerial consultations before giving it a final shape. The Government plans to table the new Bill in the Winter Session of the Parliament later this year.“Road safety is our priority area. 1.5 lakh deaths have been reported in road accidents. We want to reduce this number by at least 50 per cent in the next two years, said Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport Minister, who was speaking at Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) event on Thursday.
He said his Ministry is currently engaged in identifying the number of accidental spots.“These provisions will fall under the purview of Motor Vehicles Bill, which will be tabled in the next session of Parliament. The new Bill will be a complete overhaul of the existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988,” said Gadkari.“We will unveil the draft of the Motor Vehicles Bill on Saturday on our website, we welcome all your comments,” he said.
The Bill is being redrafted in consultation with the World Bank. The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, being prepared, will be in sync with practices in six advanced nations - the US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK.“It will adopt international best practices in road safety to help reduce the number of road accidents in the country. We will also hike penalties on traffic violations so that they act as deterrents for errant drivers,” he said.