Think tank suggests measures to check road accidents in city

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, November 12

Suvichar, a Chandigarh-based think tank, today announced a series of measures to bring about change in the traffic mechanism of Indian cities. It released its annual report, which makes a mention of several remedial measures that need to be taken for a better city.

Expressing concern over increasing number of road accidents in Chandigarh, the members said: “In 2017, there were a total of 342 road accidents, which resulted in 107 deaths in the city. As many as 85.03 per cent of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheelers”.

The think tank has suggested challans for traffic violations on the spot on the basis of CCTV cameras and raising the amount of fine for violations.

Founding members of the think tank are General VP Malik (retd), ML Sarin, Neelam Mann Singh, VK Kapoor, Vivek Atray, Prof Rajnish Wattas, Vipin Pubby, Ashok Tandon, Sameer Jain, Sameer Goel, Neena Singh and Jyoti Kamal.

It has also been suggested that there is a need to create awareness among public to send information about the violators through Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. The think tank has also suggested making seat belts mandatory for those sitting on the rear seat as well. Stress was also laid on better road maintenance, lighting and having turn-only lanes.

The Suvichar report released here today covers the key areas of road safety, legal reforms, sports and drug issues. Suvichar has also brought out suggestions for the legislature, the executive and the judiciary to improve the functioning of the justice dispensation system in India. It has been suggested that efforts should be made to fill up the existing vacancies of sanctioned strength of judges throughout the country, said ML Sarin, a senior advocate of the city.

Taking a serious note on drug menace, Suvichar said there was a need to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the extent of the menace. It should include parameters like the age group most vulnerable to fall into the trap, types of drugs taken and sources of such drugs as well as areas most prone to inducting new addicts.