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With 92,000 deaths in road accidents annually, Indian roads are no place to be. Now, you could be paying for a mega road safety plan mooted by the government. A high-level committee has recommended earmarking 1% of total proceeds from the cess on diesel and petrol for a dedicated road safety fund and setting up a national regulatory authority to monitor highway accidents.

Road cess on diesel and petrol at present is Rs 2 per litre and could go up if this recommendation is accepted. At the present level, government collects around Rs 12,000 crore annually from the cess. That means, around Rs 120 crore could be earmarked for the proposed road safety fund.

Railways levies a similar surcharge in the name of safety. India is ranked third in the world in terms of motor vehicle population, with about 7 crore vehicles and a decadal growth of 7-8% per annum.

But it also has the dubious distinction of having the world's second largest number of road accidents. According to a World Bank and WHO report, more than 1.2-million people die in road crashes globally every year, of which around 92,000 deaths occur in India. According to an estimate by the Planning Commission in 2000, the social cost of road accidents, deaths and injuries amounted to Rs 55,000 crore or 3% of the GDP.

The committee on road safety and traffic management submitted its report to Union road transport and highways minister T R Baalu on Tuesday. The report was prepared by a 19-member committee headed by TERI fellow S Sunder with joint secretary (road transport and highways ministry) S K Dash as member secretary. It was set up on the directions of the Committee on Infrastructure, headed by PM Manmohan Singh in Nov 2005, recognising the need to contain burgeoning road accidents and fatalities in the country.

The report will be circulated amongst state governments for their opinion before a final view is taken on the issue. The main recommendations of the committee include creation of a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board, an apex body to promote road safety and traffic management in the country.

The agency is expected to include members and experts drawn from fields like road engineering, auto engineering, traffic laws and medical care. The board will have regulatory powers over standards and designs for motor vehicles and national highways and will advise the government on various road safety aspects.

ravikant

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92,000 Deaths and only Rs. 120 Crores allocated for Road Safety

Cost of each life lost: Rs. 13,000. (USD 289)

Should we thank the government for allocation of Rs 120 crores for Road Safety across India?

It seems the government values the loss of each human life at a paltry Rs.13, 000 (Less than USD 300 each). We all know half of this money will never reach the road safety programs. And even if some of it does, would such a petty amount do?

Will the roads become any safer? And how will be drivers get educated and change? It seems the whole country seems to be sleeping over this most important issue.

Roads are no longer safe and a death trap for all of us out there. The so called “Indian Progress” is coming at a very “high cost” where the roads are being flooded by more and more cars every day and there is no traffic sense or any regulations in place. The Road System is a total failure with complete lawlessness on the roads with million of drivers breaking billions of “so called” road rules every day.

We all know it. But of course we can continue to celebrate our ignorance.!!!

Thank you..Government.!!!!