Committee recommends National Road Safety and Management Board

New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) Confronted with the dubious statistics of over 90,000 deaths on National Highways annually, a high-power committee has suggested creation of a ''National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board'' to promote road safety and traffic management and earmark one per cent of cess on diesel and petrol for the Road Safety Fund.

The Committee of Experts on creation of a body for 'Road Safety and Traffic Management', headed by Mr S. Sundar, was set up on the directions of the Prime Minister-headed Committee on Infrastructure, in November 2005, recognising the need to contain burgeoning road accidents and fatalities in the country.

In its report, presented to Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T.R. Baalu here today, the committee recommended creation of a high-power National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board, which would act as an apex body at the national level to promote road safety and traffic management.

The Board should be constituted through an Act of the Parliament with members and experts drawn from the various fields, including road engineering, automobile engineering, traffic laws and medical care, it said.

The committee also proposed that the Board should have regulatory as well as advisory functions.

''As far as regulatory functions are concerned, the Board would set standards and designs for mechanically propelled vehicles and National Highways. In its advisory role, the Board would advise Government on various road safety aspects and also promote road safety research, chalk out road user behaviour strategies and lay guidelines for establishing medical care and rehabilitation,'' it recommended.

It also recommended that apart from monitoring implementation of various strategies, the Board would have powers to issue directions with regard to corrective measures and conduct safety audits.

With regard to flow of funds, the Committee suggested earmarking of one per cent of total proceeds of cess on diesel and petrol for Road Safety Fund. Some part of the assistance to the State Board is proposed to be released on the basis of performance of a state in promoting the cause of road safety.

In its report, the panel recommended setting up of the state-level bodies -- State Road Safety Boards -- as the issue of road safety is required to be taken up vigorously at all-India level.

The functions of the State Board would be to aid and advise state governments on matters relating to road safety and traffic management, coordinate road safety and traffic management functions with state-level agencies and specify minimum standards for design, construction and operation of roads other than National Highways.

The other functions of these boards would be to provide minimum standards for establishing and operating trauma care facilities, commission safety audits to monitor compliance with standards, specify minimum standards for design and manufacture of vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles and recommend measures for enquiry and redressal of complaints and grievances relating to road safety and traffic management.

The committee also dwelt upon other various issues like decriminalisation of road accidents, insurance and dedicated highway police.

With regard to decriminalisation of road accident, it observed that traffic accidents are registered as medico-legal cases and the private hospitals are reluctant to accept the road accident victim to avoid getting embroiled into medico-legal case.

''The problem is further aggravated due to the requirement that attending doctors have to spend considerable time in appearing in courts/tribunals when these cases come up for hearing,'' it said.

The committee suggested that these road accidents should be de-linked from the criminal aspect. ''It should be the primary duty of the attending doctor to provide medical aid to the victim without waiting for registration of case,'' it said.

UNI