Gadkari talks to British High Commissioner about amending road safety laws

New Delhi: Aiming to bring the existing Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill in line with international best practices, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today discussed with British High Commissioner James Bevan the government’s proposal on the same. The move comes in the wake of sudden death of newly appointed Union Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident on 3 June. [caption id=“attachment_1503495” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Nitin Gadkari. Agencies.[/caption] Gadkari had said in a month’s time the Ministry for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping will re-draft the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill in sync with six advanced nations - US, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK and thereafter, will introduce it in Parliament. The Minister had also stated that the UK consented to cooperate in the area. The Bill will be re-drafted in line with advanced international practices to enhance road safety. It is likely to include measures such as installing CCTV cameras at all traffic signals, redesigning of heavy vehicles and centralising data to check misuse of driving licences. The existing Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which had been introduced and passed in the Rajya Sabha in May 2012, proposes hefty penalty for traffic rule violations and drunken driving. India reported 4.9 lakh road accidents in 2013 with a death toll of 1.38 lakh. As many as 5.09 lakh persons were injured in road accidents during the year. Gadkari said once the new laws are implemented, they will drastically reduce the number of road deaths. Also as per the proposed Bill, repeated violations of traffic rules will result in cancellation of driving license thereby enforcing stricter adherence to norms. The draft bill will be placed before the National Road Safety Council in a month where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited and the stakeholders’ suggestions would be incorporated in the bill. The existing Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in the Rajya Sabha in May 2012, proposes hefty penalties for traffic rule violations and drunken driving. Several provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, especially those related to penalties for violations, have not been found to be effective in checking road accidents. The last time the Act was amended was in 2001. PTI