5 groups set up to study increasing number of road accidents

PTI, April 13, 2011

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The government today said it has constituted five working groups to come out with their reports by July on how to prevent the increasing number of road accidents that kill over one lakh people every year.

“We have constituted five working groups to study various aspects of safe designs for roads, vehicles, awareness, emergency care and enforcement of related laws. The committees will submit their report by July 10,” a top Road Ministry official told PTI.

The decision comes in the wake of Highways Minister C P Joshi asking the officials to form working groups for immediate safety measures against the backdrop of rising accidents, on March 31.

Former Secretary, Road and retired Director General Roads, A V Sinha will head the working group on road engineering, while Director General, Police, Karnataka, S T Ramesh will head the panel to come out with its recommendations on how to ensure implementation of various road safety laws, the official said.

Working group on emergency care will be headed by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Hospital Administrator Dr Shakti Kumar Gupta.

Other two committees on engineering vehicles and education will be chaired by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune”s Director S R Marathe and Pradeep Mehta Secretary General, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) Pradeep Mehta respectively, the official added.

As per official records, over one lakh people are killed and more than 4.5 lakh people are injured in the country every year in road accidents.

Vulnerable road users pedestrians and school children constitute up to 80 per cent of the total traffic fatalities in India, as per Road Ministry while socio-economic cost of road accidents has been estimated at 3 per cent of the GDP. PTI NAM

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