The Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has set a target to bring down the road accident deaths by 50 per cent in the next few years with a long term goal of ‘Vision Zero.’
Expressing concern over the number of persons killed in road accidents in India being the highest in the world in spite of statistics showing a decreasing trend, the Minister MoRTH Oscar Fernandes said, “The high number of deaths are unacceptable.” Fernandes was chairing the deliberations at a conference on “Strengthening Road Safety legislation: Saving lives.”
“My ministry will also take all necessary action to expedite the settlement of motor accident claims,” he said.
Fernandes also assured that the government will make all efforts to promote its primary role in creating safe road traffic conditions through safe infrastructure, legislation, enforcement, education and prompt post crash response and care.
“laws in the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), 1988 need to be reviewed and amended from time to time to keep pace with the changing requirements of the time and also to assimilate the good practices that are identified based on sound evidence of effectiveness,” he added.
“In tune with that, the Government has initiated the process of amendment of the MV Act. We are aiming at improving the comprehensiveness of laws relating to specific risk factors: over-speeding, drunken driving, overloading, use of mobile phones, not using helmets and seatbelts.”
The Minister further stated that the MV (Amendment) Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on May 8, 2012 and was now before lok Sabha for further consideration and passing. He said appropriate legislation plays a very important role in making our roads safer.
“We strongly believe that strengthening the road safety legislation will save lives. We, therefore, urge all stakeholders to come together and facilitate the passing of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2012,” said Dr Nata Menabde, WHO Representative to India.