With the gradual increase in the number of road accidents and road fatalities, the transport department in Maharashtra has resolved to establish a specialised panel that will examine the cases of accidents on the road and will enhance road safety. The decision is made at the moment when the state is experiencing a worrying average of 99 accidents each day, which proves that the situation requires immediate action. The recent bus accident that resulted in the death of 13 people in Andhra Pradesh has caused even more concern.
According to the officials of the Road Transport Office (RTO), the number of accidents and the number of fatalities has risen tremendously within five-year time. In an effort to curb this, a third party agency will be soon appointed to carry out a comprehensive and scientific research on road crashes. The project will be assigned with a budget of about ₹1 crore and will consist of a group of technical specialists and qualified officers.
The proposed unit will be under the RTO Road Safety Cell and will have a strong working relationship with various departments, which include the police, the public works department, highway authorities, and the traffic police. The target is to develop an integrated and data-based accident prevention model.
Among the factors that the panel will scrutinize are the speed of the vehicles, road conditions, behaviour of the drivers, the black spots that are likely to cause accidents, as well as the road design features such as curves and other signalling systems. Detailed inquiries will entail checking of the order of events and the vehicle condition as well as the braking pattern in fatal accidents.
According to the results, the governments will take specific steps that include a better road network, signage systems, speed control, and increased awareness among the citizens and communities. There have also been increased enforcement waves recently with over 1.65 lakh two-wheeler riders being penalized due to the lack of a helmet and thousands of riders being booked on speeding which indicates that the attitude towards road safety compliance has been made stricter.