The Cabinet on Thursday is likely to decide on setting up an independent body to put in place safety provisions for national highways. The decision is going to be crucial considering the increasing number of deaths on highways, which already accounts for most road fatalities in the world.
The Cabinet is also scheduled to take up creation of national road safety fund, aimed at giving financial freedom to the board. As per the proposal, 1% of cess on petrol and diesel will be diverted to the fund. In order to facilitate formation of this fund, road transport and highways ministry has suggested certain amendments in the Central Road Fund Act, a senior official in the ministry told FE.
The proposed national road safety and traffic management board will be responsible for prescribing steps to uplift safety standards in the design, construction and maintenance of highways, besides suggesting safety measures for motor vehicles.
The board will have the authority to conduct regular safety audits of national highways and establish proper procedure for collection, transmission and analysis of road accident data. It will also advise the Centre on administering the road safety laws. Chairman and members of the board will be selected by a search and selection board under the Cabinet secretary from the fields of road and automobile engineering, traffic laws and medical.
The road ministry was earlier facing opposition from the law ministry, which was arguing that the Centre could not create such a board as road safety is the subject matter of states. But having got the law ministry on board now, the road ministry wants to introduce the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Bill for creation of the board in the current session of Parliament, officials said.
As per a recent World Bank report, India has the maximum number of road accidents in the world. The latest data of National Crime Records Bureau puts road fatalities at more than 1.14 lakh in 2007, higher than 1.05 lakh deaths in 2006.
Major victims among fatal road accidents are two wheelers, pedestrians and cyclists, minister of state for road transport and highways Mahadeo Singh Khandela informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday. ??The share of these three groups taken together in all fatal road accidents ranges from 29.5% to 40.2% during the period 2004-07,?? he said.