In India, people are often reluctant to follow rules, especially on the road. This is the reason why we see several individuals riding and driving recklessly. The major cause of accidents on our roads is such irresponsible behaviour, and we have seen several examples of the same online. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is now planning to come up with a strategy to tackle this issue. They plan to implement a graded point system for driving licences, where offences can be tracked and, based on the violations, points will be deducted. Authorities will either suspend or permanently cancel the licence once the limit is breached.
The ministry is considering such an initiative because there has been a rise in the number of accidents on our roads. The number of accidents has touched the 5 lakh mark annually. Out of this, 1.80 lakh accidents have resulted in fatalities.
Under the new system, which the government is currently considering, the concerned authorities will deduct points from the licence for every offence. There is going to be a limit to the number of points that each licence will have. Once this limit is breached, the authorities will either suspend the licence for a period of six months or it may even be cancelled permanently.
This new initiative to move towards a graded system is actually a good step, as people will be much more careful while driving on the road, knowing they have only a limited number of points or chances before they lose the privilege to drive or ride. As people become more careful, the number of accidents on the road will also come down automatically.
Union Minister Gadkari spoke about this new initiative during the third National Conclave on Road Safety, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Gadkari also added that the ministry has identified the top 100 districts with a high number of road accidents and their black spots. They are now working with a targeted approach to reduce the number of accidents.
At the moment, the ministry has not named the districts, but if this continues, they might actually name and shame these districts and states if the rate of accidents and fatalities does not reduce. The minister said, “Likewise, we have also identified 350 landsliding spots in the Himalayan terrain, and the ministry has picked up 235 such spots in the first phase to fix the problem on a priority basis to avoid road accidents and deaths due to landslides.”
Another issue that many individuals face is the lack of ambulances. Fifty percent of road fatalities can be avoided if victims can reach a hospital within an hour after the accident. In order to tackle this issue, “The ministry has decided to deploy up to 400 high-tech and fully equipped ambulances with sufficient rescue tools at key national highways under the supervision of state governments to ensure that these reach the accident spot within 20 minutes to rescue the victims and transport them to the hospital,” said Gadkari.
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