Better road safety management and stricter law enforcement needed in India

Road safety management in India is the need of the hour. How urgent is this need only a peek at the local news papers or tuning into the new channel will tell. Vehicular transport is increasing by leaps and bounds and in direct proportion the incidents of road accident fatalities. More deaths occur on the streets of India than even in the more populated streets of China. Road accidents are identified as the biggest killers and unless something is done to curb the same on a war footing the problem is only going to increase with each passing day. Recent studies have shown that road accidents have increased in India by 5.5% as compared to 2009 figures.

The need for a proper Road Safety Management Program requires to be initiated by both Government of India and Traffic Police Department. While Government can work alongside organisations like schools, colleges, driving academies, NGOs, etc to instill safe driving techniques and caution awareness on the road, Police Departments should be not only more vigilant but stricter, rigid and higher penalties should be enforced on law breakers. Penalties should be heavy for those breaking traffic rules.

Fines for not wearing of seat belts and helmets, breaking of traffic lights, using mobile phones while driving, driving under influence of alcohol, etc should be augmented and rigorously and inflexibly levied on all law breakers. Besides this, various road safety training programs should be conducted to educate citizens on the importance of road safety. Road safety and its benefits should be instilled in youngsters right from school and college stages. Awareness should be augmented through street plays, advertisements in movie halls, through the internet, quizzes and by distribution of pamphlets and literature on road safety rules.