Amendment Sought in Road Safety Bill

On 21 July 2010, Parliamentary standing committee in its report presented in Rajya Sabha sought amendment in Road Safety and Traffic Management and Board Bill. The committee recommended that the bill which aims only at national highways should be replaced with effective and comprehensive legislation which will cover entire Road network inside the country and not only the national highways. According to the committee, the bill is mainly advisory in nature so it would not be effective in preventing an increase in the number of road accidents.
The committee also predicted that due to lack of proper road safety bill, traffic accidents and deaths would increase by 65% in the world during the period of 2000-20. The committee showed concern that the number of deaths due to traffic accidents in India had increased to 1,14,444 in 2007 from 84674 in 2002.
• The report was submitted by Sitaram Yechury who is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.
• Road Safety and Traffic Management Board Bill, was presented in the Lok Sabha in May 2010. The Bill has a provision to establish a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board for better regulation of traffic and better safety standards during design and construction of highways.