Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Good attempt to govern traffic in the country' that was published in Newsband

Good attempt to govern traffic in the country

It is high time unruly and dangerous drivers were reined in. More than five lakh road accidents take place in India every year claiming close to 1.5 lakh lives. Lok Sabha’s approval of the modifications to the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill, 2016 has improved considerably the 30-year-old law that governs traffic in the country.

As per this new law, violators will have to pay 20 times more than before. If a vehicle is registered in the parent’s name and a minor causes a fatal accident while driving it, the parent could go to jail for a maximum term of three years.

There was an urgent need to control the growing indiscipline on India’s roads, particularly in big cities. Letting their children drive is common in many urban households. The menace of drink driving is even more widespread. Hit-and-run cases were increasing in number. This new law will tackle all these to a great extent.

Lok Sabha passes Motor Vehicle Act to bring reforms in transport sector. This includes enabling online learners’ licences, increasing the validity period for drivers’ licences and doing away with the norms of educational qualifications for licences.

The government's initiative is good, but will be successful only if the person doing the offence is made to pay the fine, else just increasing the fine will be a waste of all the efforts.

Speeding drivers could be spotted and traced by satellite imagery or drones equipped with special algorithms. This kind of unruly behavior on Indian roads could be damped by the 'fear factor' if the drivers know that they can be watched by an eye in the sky, just as, CCTV video hinders people from doing illegal acts in places where there is a camera installed.

It is good to see the measures Government is taking, the revision of heavy penalties and provision of jail would definitely create a sense of fear and also the drivers will be more cautious on roads in the country. Rule of the road needs to be paid attention and ‘drive carefully’ is the need of the hour. Most of the countries in EU as well US have sizable control in road accidents and also they have brought in better driving sense. India appears to be on the way to doing the same.