New Delhi, February 21
Creation of a national road safety and traffic management board has been mooted by an expert group to contain growing accidents on national highways.
The committee of experts on creation of a body for “road safety and traffic management”, headed by S. Sundar, in its report submitted to the government on Tuesday, suggested allocating 1 per cent of the total proceeds of the cess on diesel and petrol for the road safety fund.
The committee, which submitted its report to union minister of shipping, road transport and highways T R Baalu, was set up on the directions of the Committee on Infrastructure headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Dwelling on the issue of "decriminalisation of road accident," the committee said that traffic accidents were registered as medico-legal cases and private hospitals were reluctant to accept road accident victims to avoid getting embroiled into such cases.
"The problem is further aggravated due to the requirement that attending doctors have to spend considerable time in appearing in courts/tribunals when these cases come up for hearing. These road accidents should be de-linked from the criminal aspect. It should be the primary duty of the attending doctor to provide medical aid to the victim without waiting for registration of case," the committee said.
It recommended creation of a national road safety and traffic management board, which would act as an apex body at the national level to promote road safety and traffic management. The board, it said, should be constituted through an Act of Parliament with members and experts drawn from the various fields, including road engineering, automobile engineering, traffic laws and medical care.
The committee said that the board should have regulatory as well as advisory functions. "As far as regulatory functions are concerned, the board would set standards and designs for mechanically propelled vehicles and national highways. In its advisory role, the board would advise the government on various road safety aspects and also promote road safety research, chalk out road user behaviour strategies and lay guidelines for establishing medical care and rehabilitation," the committee said.
Apart from monitoring implementation of various strategies, the board would have powers to issue directions with regard to corrective measures and conduct safety audits. The committee also recommended creation of state road safety boards.
