Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Ensure road safety' that was published in Newsband

Ensure road safety

How to prevent road accidents? First both the urban and rural roads need to be repaired. There is a need to bring sanity to the roads of the fast-motorising country. India as a whole is inured to the ghastly toll every year. The Supreme Court has come up with several specific and time-bound directions. But the response of the Centre and the States has been far from responsible.

We have a shameful national record of about 150,000 dead and several hundred thousand injured annually. There should be mandatory public hearings every month for citizens to record road risk complaints. Forming the much-delayed National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board, with a provision for State governments to participate, has to be a top priority. Without expert help, executive agencies such as the Police and Public Works Departments are unable to conduct a technical investigation into an accident. Only a scientific system can stop the routine criminalising of all accidents.

There is a need of sophisticated investigative machinery. For accident victims, there is also the heavy burden of out-of-pocket expenditure on medical treatment. The government had promised to address this issue through a cashless facility, but it has not been able to do so. Road safety depends on enforcement of rules with zero tolerance to violations, and making officials accountable for safety.

Road safety has been often neglected by successive ruling parties. The allocation of funds as well as monitoring of road construction works have been very tardy. Hence, it is not very surprising that road accident is almost a daily routine. There is a need for stringent monitoring of the project.

Much more than implementing road safety rules, there is need to perfect the mentality of the people with regards to road safety, both while either crossing it or driving through it. People on the whole, take everything for granted, even their own lives while crossing a road, dismissing the traffic condition at that particular moment, thereby leading to a possibility of road accidents. Even while crossing a road, the basic rule of looking left, right and then again left before moving ahead is forgotten because people are too lazy to do that or they are busy talking on the phone. Now coming to the driving part, everybody seems in a hurry and this again leads to a high possibility of road incident. Drivers even talk on the phone while driving. Well, the accidents cannot be reduced to zero but can be minimized to a great extent if people are made aware.

Potholes on the roads are one of the causes of many accidents, especially during rainy season. One must appreciate the fact that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is importing ingredients of pothole-filling mixture from Germany this year in an attempt to be monsoon-ready. They had used a new additive that was brought in from Israel last year. However, this year, they intend to get the additive from Germany, which will be developed in their Worli plant and used on the roads here. The additive powers were found to be strong enough to sustain during the monsoon.

The BMC has been under fire for being unable to handle the potholes on roads during the rains. It is corruption and not technology that is responsible for bad roads. If the roads are repaired well, then the BMC won't get crores of rupees in contracts for filling up potholes during the rains. There is a clear nexus between contractors, politicians and the BMC, and all are happy with the arrangement.