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| Road Safety on Governor's Agenda | | | M.M.Khajooria | 2/12/2015 11:54:08 PM |
| Governor N.N.Vohra
has convened a meet-
ing on 14th February to review implementation of "Road Safety Action Plan". When this plan was crafted and what exactly were its thrust areas, methodology and implementation strategies was shrouded in mystery . I had written extensively on the subject, spoken on the electronic Media , discussed and corresponded with chief Minister at length, in depth and made specific recommendations. The silence on their part was deafening. In any case who can dare to accuse modern Czars , their courtiers ( read ministers) and their bureaucratic minions of being responsive to ordinary public men espousing the causes of the Aaam Admi who had chosen irrelevance for six years after casting his vote.
Governor Vohra, who kept abreast of public issues raised in the media did make efforts even earlier to lend some direction to the administrative response to the ever rising graph of deaths on the roads but there were obvious limitations at that point of time. Perhaps. now was the time he could and people expected him to do the right thing. I recall his remarks conveyed to the Media by the Raj Bhavan Spokesman after the mishap on on the Kishtwar -Madwa stretch which claimed nine precious lives including two Veterinary doctors on way to organize a Special camp to facilitate better medi-care for the livestock in this far flung area. The spokesman of the Raj Bhavan then said that" the Governor had expressed regret and deep anguish that while over a thousand innocent persons lose their lives to recurring road accidents every year, the concerned authorities have still to implement strict tangible measures to remedy the situation."
March 2014 session of the Legislative Assembly was informed that" during the last four years, 25495 road mishaps were reported from various parts of the state. These mishaps led to the death of 4453 persons and injuries to around 36920 others. The highest number of road mishaps were reported in Chenab valley region of Jammu comprising three districts of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban. "During this period 2401 accidents were reported in erstwhile Doda district, in which 823 persons lost their lives and 3700 persons were injured", Details revealed that 6006 road mishaps were reported in the year 2009 and the number saw considerable increase since then. 6136 mishaps were reported in 2010, 6644 in 2011 and 6709 in 2012.This highlighted the enormity of the challenges of Road Safety and pinpointed the areas under extreme distress.
Road safety was a matter of grave and abiding concern to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. They felt abandoned, agitated and frustrated as "Road accidents" become endemic. The stereotyped messages of condolences by the VVIPs . and sanction of relief ( how and when it actually materialised was another matter) brought no solace .
The Jammu hill roads in this land locked state were particularly vulnerable to traffic mishaps. The topography and the condition of roads dictated that only vehicles in top condition carrying no ore than authorised number of passengers and driven by responsible, experienced( in hill driving) and proficient drivers plied on such roads, These cardinal elements of common sense, provisions of law and care and caution , were more often than flouted particularly in hilly terrain where optimum care and caution were called for."Spot treatment", and routine responses had failed either to stem the tide of massacre on the roads or assuage the hurt and anger of our people. This was a sure recipe for trouble .It was therefore necessary to design and implement a comprehensive plan of action that included system correction and change in the basic approach to the complex problem.
It was undoubtedly the responsibility of the state government to ensure Road safety .The level of responsibility was, for obvious reasons higher in respect of the Highly Accident Prone zones in the hilly terrain. This could not be discharged by merely putting up sign Boards and enforcing one-way-traffic. The state and central governments were also responsible and accountable for proper alignment designing, construction and maintenance of the roads But to successfully overcome the daunting, enormous and diverse challenges in securing road safety in our state it was absolutely necessary to take vital stake holders like road users, drivers, commuters, transporters and civil society activists/ NGO's on board.
The fallowing measures were recommended to enhance the level of Road Safety and send a message to our people that the government and the civil society would jointly strive to make roads safe for their use.
1) Multi discipline Inquiry committees be constituted to conduct in depth and comprehensive probes into a bunch of fatal say six traffic accidents during last three years selected on the basis of loss of life and circumstances attendant upon the occurrences' The objective should be to identify factors that contributed to the tragedies so the lessons were learnt and corrective measures put in place as well as locate responsibility for the dereliction of duty, criminal negligence, sub standard execution of works and criminal casualness in certification of road worthiness . The contractors, Engineers /officials and others responsible for repair, supervision and responsible for ensuring roadworthy must be brought under the ambit of the inquiry of course along with those responsible for fitness approval of the vehicles and those charged with the duty of traffic management.
2) A Task Force should draw up the building design, and list out requirements of equipment( including ambulances fully equipped with life saving gadgets/ medicines, oxygen and trained para medics), man power and technological aids for a model Disaster Service Hospital. Their recommendation should be vetted by a small compact high level Multi discipline Experts Committee and forwarded for government sanction. The committee may include non-official experts and representatives of NGOS Thereafter the existing facilities should be remodelled and upgraded accordingly within a time frame
3) Presently, roads in the state were classified as Plain, and Hilly mainly for the purpose of issuing Driving licences. Given the topography and the surface lay out, the hilly and hazardous stretches should be further categorized as Accident Prone and Highly Accident Prone . On the basis of such classification, the type and vintage of vehicle fit to ply could and should be determined.
Only highly skilled and experienced drivers (Minimum driving experience of say 10 years) with clean record of driving should be awarded the licence to ply vehicles on such roads.. The Licensing authority should periodically test their proficiency and keep a close watch on their performance. A single incident with proven rash and or negligent driving resulting in fatality should be reason enough for cancellation of the Driving License
4) Set up of a Road Safety Commission for planning, operating, co-ordinating ,monitoring and regularly reviewing the Road safety infrastructure and mechanism. Spreading the Road safety awareness on sustained long term basis, mobilising civil society/NGO'S and securing encroachment - free roads and Foot Paths should be foremost on its agenda.
5)The organizational structure . training curricula , checking/ testing equipment, motivation and reorientation of the Traffic Enforcement wing of J &K Police should re visited and appropriate changes and improvements made with in a time frame.
6) Certification of fitness of vehicles to ply should be computerized within three months.( if not already done). Similarly efficient and full time functioning of Electronic Traffic Signals in cities of Jammu and Srinagar and meticulous compliance of rules needed to be ensured.
7) Road Safety be included in the School curricula from class one.
The problems though daunting can be licked only by a dispensation that resisted pressures from vested interests and firmly and out rightly rejected delaying tactics to serve those very interests. It should be hoped that based on inputs from various sources and his own vast experience Governor Vohra will take immediate , concrete steps to institutionalise Road safety mechanism ,formalise sanction of / and amendments to existing and relevant rules and standing orders at topmost priority . Speed was of essence as there was as yet no clarity on the longtivity of the current Governor's Rule.
(The author is a former Inspector General Police ( Traffic), Director General Transport and Director General Police) |
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