It is still an amber light for road safety (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Polity
Prelims level: Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019
Mains level: Highlights of the provisions of Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019

Context

• The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by the Lok Sabha on July 23 and by the Rajya Sabha on July 31 has 63 clauses with the aim of reducing road traffic fatalities and injuries in India.
• The Amendment to the Act is intended to reduce traffic crashes by at least 50% by 2030 (a target set by the United Nations).

Highlights the provisions of MV Amendment Act 2019

• The following provisions are highlighted as follows:
• To increase compensation for road accident victims,
• To constitute of a Motor Vehicle Accident fund to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users.
• To develop of a National Transportation Policy.
• To constitute of a National Road Safety Board.
• To increase penalties for several offences.

Key issues

• There does not seem to be any correlation between stricter and higher penalties and a reduction in road traffic crashes in countries where road traffic 5 deaths have reduced over the years, examples being West Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia.
• Road safety experts suggest that road designs such as lane width, number of lanes and median design influence driving behaviour such as operating speeds, lane changing, etc.
• Greater mix of vehicles like tractors, Cyclists etc. even on highways makes it difficult to manage traffic in India.
• A Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) report of 2018 has listed 1,51,430 fatalities. However, for the same year, the World Health Organisation estimates nearly 300,000 deaths.
• The government of India study by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India (‘The Million Death’ study) also reports at least a 50% underreporting of traffic fatalities and a higher share of pedestrian and motorised two-wheelers as Road Traffic Collision victims when compared to the MoRTH report.

Way forward

• Safety interventions have to be based on three important principles:
• Recognition of human weaknesses of fatigue, falling asleep etc.
• Acceptance of human error, and creation of a forgiving environment.
• Road engineers can change the road design to reduce boredom and monotony thus reducing chances of driver feeling sleepy.
• Safety performance and safeguards should be periodically evaluated.
• The accident data needs to be reliable on the basis of which the government needs to build road safety policies.

Conclusion

• Therefore, if there is to be a reduction in India in the growing health burden due to traffic crashes, it requires establishing a system which enables the 6 generation of new knowledge-new road standards thereby ensuring safe highways and urban roads.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements:
1. Transfers through your bank account have a limit Rs.10,000 per transaction and Rs. 25,000in 24 hours.
2. Two major initiatives of NITI Aayog, promotion of BHIM and the Women Entrepreneurship Platform.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 Nor 2

Answer: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) Highlights the pros and cons of the provisions of Motor Vehicle Amendment Act 2019.