India drive safely

India drive safely

A new law, hefty fines, high-tech solutions are all coming. But old ways of policing must change.

The impending enactment of the Motor Vehicles Act amendment bill lays the ground for a transformative change in India’s approach to road safety. This is an opportunity that must not be squandered and both central and state governments must get their acts right. By steeply raising penalties for traffic offences, a long overdue step, the legislation has the potential to deter unsafe, aggressive driving. However, there is a catch: a legislation is only as good as its implementation. Unless police personnel are adequately deployed for traffic duties and they haul up wrongdoers without succumbing to old habits like bribery, change will be illusory.

This is where technology can make a difference in a country like India which does not have adequate police personnel even for routine law and order duties. Speed cameras, CCTVs, speed guns, wearable cameras, etc can to an extent replace traffic police deployment on roads. Fortunately, the new law recognises these imperatives and tasks Centre with making rules for using these technologies and state governments with ensuring that these monitoring devices are installed on highways and other roads. Ultimately, police must actually send out challans and initiate prosecution for violations caught on camera for the move to succeed.

The legislation factors in other ground realities too. It envisions a central scheme for cashless treatment to accident victims during the “golden hour” when emergency medical attention can save lives and mitigate debilitating injuries. For private hospitals that shy away from admitting accident victims fearing the expenditure this will serve as an incentive. Its recognition of ‘Good Samaritans’ and the harassment they face from police despite bringing hit-and-run victims to hospitals will also have a salutary effect. No less laudable is the provision that deems the parent or owner of the vehicle guilty for offences by juveniles.

Authorities, contractors and consultants will face fines up to Rs 1 lakh for poor design, construction and maintenance of roads. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has done well to table a bill that seeks to do justice for motor accident victims and motorists, passengers and pedestrians. In 2017, 4.64 lakh road accidents caused nearly 1.47 lakh deaths and injuries to 4.7 lakh persons. This is the horrifying statistic which the Motor Vehicles Act amendment and its stakeholders must strive to undo. The journey to a safer driving culture must begin now.