Report of the Working Group

On
Road Safety pertaining to Enforcement

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 As per order No. RT-23014/3/2011-RS dated 11.04.11, Working Group on
enforcement was constituted as follows:

1. Dr. S.T. Ramesh, DG & IG, Karnataka Chairman

2. Shri Pradeep Srivastava, IGP, Chandigarh Member
3. Shri Satyendra Garg, Joint CP/Traffic, Delhi Member
4. Shri Deepak Upreti, Pr. Secretary and Transport
Commissioner, Rajasthan Member

5. Shri J.P. Gupta, Transport Commissioner,

Gujarat Member

6. Shri Chittaranajan Dass, President of All India

Federation of Goods Vehicles Association Member

7. Shri Babu Lal Choudhary, Rajasthan Member

8. Shri Rohit Baluja, President, IRTE Member
9. Shri Anand Prakash, Director (RT) Convener

The first meeting of the Working Group Committee was held on 24.05.11 at
Transport Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi. The second meeting of the Working
Group Committee was held in Bangalore on 13.06.11. On 30.06.11, Shri S.T.
Ramesh, DG & IG Karnataka Police retired from service. The remaining members of
the Committee met on 26.09.11 at Transport Bhawan, Sansad Marg, and New Delhi
to finalize the recommendations of the Committee.

Road Safety Scenario in the country

In the year 2001, there were 4,05, 637 accidents out of which 71,219 were fatal
accidents. In these accidents, 80,888 people got killed and 4,05,215 were injured. This
figure of accidents has been climbing up consistently and according to provisional figure
of 2009, there were 4, 86,384 accidents in the year out of which 1, 10,993 were fatal
accidents. 1,25,660 persons were killed in these accidents and 5,15,458 people were
injured. While India used to be behind China in number of accidents and fatalities, now

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India has the dubious distinction of having highest number of accidents and fatalities on
the roads. This trend needs to be reversed with all round improvement in the way the
traffic and transport is managed in the country. Based on the three meetings, the
Committee is of the view that there are certain things which need to be done immediately
while others can be done in a long term perspective.

I Measures which are urgently required to improve road safety scene:

i) Amendment of Motor Vehicles Act 1988: At present prosecution of traffic

offences is taking place as per provisions of Motor Vehicles Act 1988. The
penalty structure of 1988 Act has become totally redundant and the fines are
not a deterrence for traffic rule violators. The low fine structure has had a bad
impact on road safety scenario and as recommended by the Committee to
review of Motor Vehicles Act, there is urgent need to increase penalties and
fines for traffic offences. It may be added that in the National Capital of Delhi
during the Commonwealth Games when there was Rs. 2,000 fine for lane
violation, the traffic ran very smoothly. People were very careful in following
lane discipline and it had overall impact on improving the traffic management
scene and accidents came down drastically. Needless to point that in 1988 the
income of the people was low and the fine of Rs. 100 for red light jumping,
triple riding, riding without helmet used to be a big amount as fine. In 2011
when general public income level of the people has grown substantially high,
a fine of Rs. 100 for these offences is not having an impact on traffic
management and road discipline.

While revising the penalties for traffic offences, a clause needs to be inserted
in the Amendment Act itself that every three years there should be revision of
fine based on consumer price index. There should be no need of going to
Parliament for fine/penalty revision.

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ii) Overloading of Commercial Vehicles is one of the major reasons for
accidents and fatalities on the roads. This overloading has to be checked
properly to enhance road safety. To do this, the Committee was of the view
that following measures should be taken :
a) As overloading leads to damage to the roads, in cases where it is
discovered that the commercial vehicle is overloaded, there should be
mandatory criminal case under the provisions of Damage to Public
Property Act against the transporter, the consignor and the consignee. If
properly implemented, this will lead to a quantum jump in road safety
scenario in the country and reduce accidents.
b) As per Motor Vehicles Act provisions and rules, police is not empowered
to check overloading as Transport Department is the only competent
agency to check overloading. All state police forces need to be empowered
to check overloading and for this a large number of weighing machines
should be installed so that no overloading takes place.

iii) Use of Road Safety Devices like Helmet, Seat Belt: There are large number
of accidents particularly on highways and city roads where deaths happen
because safety devices like seat belt or helmet are not used by the road users.
Wearing of helmet both for the driver and the pillion rider must be made
mandatory. At present, some state governments have not enforced wearing of
helmet and in some states women have been exempted from wearing helmets.
The Committee was of the view that there should be no exemption in wearing
of helmet and awareness should be created that helmet should be properly
strapped by the road users Similarly, wearing of seat belt should be
compulsory for the driver and the front passenger and on national highways it
should be compulsory for even the passengers in the back seat.
iv) Drunken Driving: According to Section 185 of Motor Vehicle Act, the
penalty for violation of this rule is punishable with a fine of Rs. 2,000 or 6
months imprisonment or both for the first offence. It is experienced
throughout the country that drunken driving is being punished by fine only.

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 Delhi Traffic Police made a healthy beginning in 2010 when the offence of
drunken driving started being punished by imprisonment to various jail terms
to the defaulters. In the year 2011, upto 30th September, as many as 2,374
people have been awarded imprisonment for drunken driving. This practice
of awarding imprisonment in drunken driving is also prevalent in city like
Mumbai. All enforcement agencies may impress upon the courts of the
concerned cities/states that in graver cases of drunken driving, imprisonment
must be provided to discourage drunken driving. There is also a provision
under Motor Vehicle Act under Section 20 that if there is conviction under
Section 185, the driving licence of the offender must be suspended. It has also
been seen that in most of cities/states, this provision is not being enforced.
Delhi Traffic Police took up with the concerned courts and it has been
encouraging that upto 30th Sept., 2011 1971 driving licences have been
suspended for drunken driving. Other states and city traffic police need to
take up with their concerned courts to ensure that for the offence of drunken
driving, driving licence suspension and imprisonment become a norm. This
will have a healthy influence on road safety as drunken driving is one of the
biggest reasons for accidents on roads. Similarly, databases should be created
by all the state police forces and Transport department to ensure enhanced
punishment for drunken driving where the second or subsequent offence.

v) Database of all Traffic Violations: At present, there is no interlinked data

base for recording of traffic violations by drivers of the vehicles. According
to Motor Vehicle Act provision, there is different punishment for first traffic
rule violation and for subsequent offences. As most of the states do not have
data base of traffic rules violation prosecution, enhanced punishment is not
possible for most of the traffic offences. There is urgent need that data base
should be created for every vehicle, every driver and every offence for
interlinking the habitual offender and there being enhanced punishments for
second and subsequent offences.

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vi) Strict checking of overcrowded passenger vehicles: It is common
experience in all major cities and towns that commercial passenger vehicles
are loaded with many more persons than the authorised capacity of the
vehicle. In Delhi, particularly, it has been noticed that RTVs, Gramin Sewa &
TSRs are heavily overloaded which lead to frequent accidents with multiple
deaths. All Transport and Traffic Police have to come down heavily on
overloading of passenger vehicles. The Committee was of the view that in
case of overloading of passenger vehicles, there should be provision of
cancellation of permit of commercial passenger vehicles so that this
compromise of road safety does not takes place. Presently, there is a
provision of fine which is not a deterrence for checking of overloading of
passenger vehicles.

vii) Improvement of Road Engineering: There are certain stretches on the roads
on highways and in cities where accidents happen because of faulty road
engineering. It must be made mandatory for all concerned departments to
inspect the roads where frequent accidents are happening. There should be
compulsory inspection by Transport Department officials, Traffic Police, local
police, road maintaining agency officials of scenes of multiple deaths or
multiple accidents on particular stretches of roads to effective improve road
engineering on these stretches.

viii) Use of Technology for interacting with road users: Delhi Traffic Police
has pioneered its interaction with inter-road users by social networking sites
like Facebook. More than 80,000 are connected to Delhi Traffic Police
through its Facebook. This has acted as empowerment of road users, sharing
of information by Traffic Police and the road users and improvement in traffic
and road safety through interaction. Every city police should start interacting
with road users through proper mediums. It is suggested that all public utility
department like Transport Department, Traffic Police must have constant
interaction with road users. If transparency in the working of public utility
department is ensured, this improves the road safety scenario. Similarly,

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 sharing of information through facilities like SMS alert service, 24x7 helpline
can be effective instrument for improvement in road safety.

II. Institutional changes required to enhance road safety: It was felt by the
Committee that road safety is compromised by basic issues like faulty
issuance of driving licences, issuance of multiple driving licences, fitness
certificate for commercial vehicles and other similar issues. The Committee
suggests some fundamental changes as regards these and the
recommendations are:

i) Issuance of driving licences: It has been felt by all enforcement agencies

that the present system of issuance of driving licence is not upto the mark.
The applicants get driving licences without really knowing how to drive.
There have been instances where people even with driving licence for the
heavy vehicles are not competent to make basic movement of heavy
vehicle. There is an urgent need to have a comprehensive test of the skills
of applicants before driving licence of any category is issued to the
applicant. It is suggested by the Committee that the Transport Department
of all states must encourage establishing a large number of training
institutes which can impart basic training for drivers before the applicant
comes for driving licence. These driving institutes and Transport
Department may also use simulators, actual driving tracks to ensure that
applicants for a driving licence must be fully conversant with the driving
skills before getting licence.

ii) Digitization of Driving Licenses: It has been experienced by all

enforcement agencies that people have been getting multiple driving
licences from different transport authorities. There is urgent need of
linking up of transport authorities to ensure that no person is able to get a
driving licence from more than one authority. There is also need of
digitization of the existing driving licence holders. This is also necessary

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 because when driving licence of a defaulter in traffic offence is suspended
he should not be able to get driving licence from any other transport
authority.

iii) Issuance of fitness certificate by Transport Authorities: It has been felt

by Committee that a large number of accidents on roads happen because
many of the commercial vehicles are not in good condition. It has been
felt that fitness certificate for commercial vehicles are being issued in a
routine and there should be stringent checks of commercial vehicles before
fitness certificate is issued to the vehicle. At present, a large number of
breakdowns are happening on city roads and highways because of which a
large number of people lose their lives in accidents. Stringent fitness
certificate issuance will ensure enhanced road safety.

iv) Modernization of Traffic Management System in cities: The

Committee was of the view that with the introduction of latest technology
in traffic management like CCTVs, speed cameras, red light cameras,
Variable Messaging, video analytics and other systems of intelligent
traffic system, we can reduce dependence on manpower and can have an
effective traffic management system. Bangalore Traffic Police has shown
the way by having most of the components of intelligent traffic system
functional in the state. It was felt by the Committee that other states
should also induct technology for regulation and enforcement. This will
increase road safety scenario all around.

v) Speed Calming measures on Highways near inhabited areas: It was

felt by the Committee that on both sides of highways including National
Highways, a large number of habitants are there requiring facilities to
crossover from one side to other. At present, there is insufficient facility
for people to crossover from one side to other as a consequence of which
large number of pedestrian deaths are taking place in these areas. During
construction of highways, there should be sufficient provision of crossover

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 for pedestrians and sufficient safety devices like central verge, railing,
grills on both sides of the highways. Wherever there is speedy traffic on
highways, sufficient security measures should be taken. There is also
need for speed calming measures like table top speed breakers, rumbler
strips on highways particularly on vulnerable locations so that vehicles
slow down at appropriate places.

vi) Wayside amenities for long distance drivers: It was felt by the
Committee that a large number of accidents happen because long distance
drivers do not have wayside amenities for rest and recuperation. There is
urgent need to establish these amenities on roadsides at national and other
highways because accidents generally happen due to fatigue and over
work. Transporters need to be educated to have a reasonable schedule of
movement of vehicle which will not force drivers to drive long hours
without sleep and rest.

vii) Compulsory installation of GPS in Commercial Vehicles: It has been

the view of the Committee that there is tendency of over speeding and
dangerous driving by commercial vehicles. As an enhanced safety
measure, the Committee was of the view that there should be compulsory
GPS devise installation in all commercial vehicles. By installing GPS,
there can be a check on which roads these vehicles are travelling and to
find out their locations at any particular time. The vehicle owner will be
much better of as they will be able to locate their vehicle through the
length and breadth if the GPS system are installed in commercial vehicles.
This will check misuse of commercial vehicles, facilitation in locating
them in case of untoward accidents.
viii) Part of fine being made available for Road Safety Improvement :
Many members of the Committee was of the view that the part of fine
collected by the Traffic Police for traffic violations should become
available to them for effective road safety improvement in the areas like
education to students, road users and other stakeholders.

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ix) Apex Road Safety Body at the State and District Level: The Committee
was of the view that at present state and district level road safety
committee are not effective. There is urgent need that a state level road
safety committee headed by a senior functionary of government and
should have representative from all stakeholders so that road safety
scenario is reviewed periodically. Similarly, there should be District
Level Road Safety Committee having members from all concerned units
to review safety scenario in the District. There should be compulsory
meeting of these Committees and issues must be discussed threadbare.

If the above mentioned measures are implemented in a time bound

basis, this will go a long way for improving road safety scenario in the
country. The present track record of road security of the country is not at
all satisfactory and everything which need to be done to improve the road
safety scenario has to be done on priority to have a good safety scenario.

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