Tovikali, IA
DIPR feature
Road travel has become an integral part of all of us and cannot be avoided in our day to day life. With increasing economy and population, there has been an immense increase in the traffic on the roads over a period of time. While on the one hand it has made things convenient for us but on the other hand it has also increases our concerns of road safety.
Our roads have a heterogeneous mix of traffic with high speed vehicles, rickshaws, motor cyclists, scooters, cyclists and pedestrians all sharing the same space at the same time which makes things difficult, on an already over burdened road infrastructure leading to major accidents.
WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF THESE ACCIDENTS
Around 80% of the road accidents happen because of the fault of the driver. There are several other reasons for these high accident rates such as-
• Drunken driving.
• Driver’s fault due to over speeding.
• Underage, untrained driver’s.
• Pedestrian’s fault.
• Bad and defective roads.
• Mechanical defects in the vehicles.
• Bad weather conditions.
• Over loading.
• Talking or Texting on Mobile.
• Lack of proper implementation of Road Safety Law.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THESE ACCIDENTS
• Loss of Life.
• Loss of earnings for the family affected.
• Costly injuries.
• Property damages.
• Loss of travel time and increased congestion on the road.
• Total economic loss to the country due to road accidents is more than 3,00,000 crore therefore road accidents are a huge burden on the economy growth.
MEASURES THAT CAN BE TAKEN TO CURB THESE ACCIDENTS
• Making Road Safety Assessment a compulsory part of the syllabus in schools which will help children to learn about the rules and safety of roads early in life.
• Defaulters should be fined heavily for breaking the rules.
• Make Licensing and driving tests mandatory and more strict.
• Imprisonment and heavy penalty for drunken driving.
• Mandatory registration of criminal cases if the vehicle’s is under the influence of alcohol, overloaded, untrained or underage.
• Mandatory fitness checks of the school buses as well as the drivers.
• Need to provide well maintained, safe and efficient public transport systems.
• Enforcement of stringent rules in implementing road safety laws and traffic management.
• Installation of CCTV cameras for better monitoring of traffic, Highway patrolling using radar to detect over speeding vehicles, weather monitoring stations.
• Organizing traffic incident management program to reduce congestion and rescues the accident victims to nearest hospital authority.
WHO SHOULD SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ROAD SAFETY
• Citizens of the country, as responsible citizens of the country together can make change.
• Government and Legislative bodies of the country.
• Police can improve road use behaviour through enforcement and strict measures.
• Media can play a very important role in creating rod safety awareness through advertisement on safe driving.
• NGO’s
10 GOLDEN RULES OF ROAD SAFETY FOR DRIVER’s
• Conduct a pre-trip inspection on your car.
• Wear seat belt.
• Respect and follow the rules of the Road.
• Stick to the speed limit. • Don’t drive under the influence of alcohol or any other substances.
• Protect children by ensuring they are in appropriate car seats.
• Pay attention while driving.
• Stop when you are tired- swap driving with a travel companion.
• Wear helmet if you are riding a two-wheel vehicle.
• Be courteous- Always consider other roads users when you are on the road.
Let us make our Cities and Town’s safe and accident free with our conscious effort and positive attitude. Be an active citizen and educate others- take initiative in spreading Road Safety awareness and relevant matters of safety and security. Have a voluntary discipline within ourselves to overcome this hurdle.
Source-Nagaland Road Safety Authority
