Almost 1,50,000 Indians die every year due to road accidents. This means that nearly 400 people die daily on Indian roads. This makes India on top of the Global List of unsafe roads, with five lakh accidents per year.
With these alarming statistics, the Government is finally taking steps to bring these numbers down and save lives. All over India, actions are being taken to make the roads a safer place for drivers and pedestrians both.
1. Increased Traffic Challans
The recent Motor Vehicle Act was introduced to increase the penalty for breaking traffic rules. This was necessary since current fines were too low/affordable for everyone and violators did not take paying these fines seriously. A hit on the pocket or imprisonment definitely changes things.
While some states have implemented the amended act, some are still reluctant to implement such hefty fines to avoid burdening the citizens.
2. Creating Awareness
Lack of awareness is also a big reason why people do not follow traffic rules. As an initiative of the Road Safety Campaign, the Ministry of Road and Transport Highways has introduced a dashboard where citizens can have access to national and state level data related to road accidents.
The ministry has also published a set of comic books on road safety. The books are produced by Amar Chitra Katha and Uber named Surakshit Yatra and Swachha Safar respectively to create awareness in an engaging way among children.
The government has also launched the third edition of iSAFE. It is a nine months long championship based on the issues of road safety for students of schools and colleges. Students from all over India can participate in it to bridge the gaps in road safety rules and implementation.
3. Use of Social Media
Traffic police has started accepting complaints of traffic rules’ violations on social media. If you see a person breaking a traffic rule, you can click a picture and report it on the social media account of traffic police.
For instance, if you see three people on a bike, you can promptly click their picture and share it on the social media account of traffic police along with the right date, time and location. The police will review the complaint and summon the defaulter.
Citizens can now also report an accident or congestion on roads through social media handles of traffic police to get help and spread awareness.
4. Paid Internships
As a part of the Indian Road Safety Campaign, the ministry has backed an IIT Delhi initiative started in 2016. This involves a social media campaign about road safety awareness. Through this program, the government is offering 2 months paid policy internship to undergrad students. The program gives students an opportunity to learn about and fix unsafe roads in India.
5. Taking Help from NGOs
The ministry has also joined hands with several NGOs and various state traffic police departments to spread awareness, launch campaigns, and make people understand the importance of traffic rules. There have been a lot of instances where these units gave out free helmets to promote road safety.
Therefore, let us follow traffic rules, road signs and take all steps necessary for road safety. All this is for keeping you safe, so that you return safely to your family.
Safe Driving!
