THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCoRS) has urged the government to take appropriate steps to ensure that road accidents in the state are reduced. As part of it, the committee has directed the state government to provide the police with appropriate equipment or devices for detecting drug or liquor content in blood if the drivers are found inebriated during vehicle inspection.
The committee also proposed the motor vehicles department impose fines or penalties for the violations as specified in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act so that these act as a major deterrent. The SCoRS gave the suggestions and instructions in a review meeting with the road safety situation in Kerala with heads of the departments concerned here last Thursday.
The committee comprising chairman Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre and legal consultant Harshit Khander reviewed the current road safety scenario and progress made by the state in ensuring safety. The committee also compared the accident rate prevailing in Kerala with that of the national and international average.
Justice Sapre pointed out various causes of accidents such as the accidents occurring due to human errors like speeding, overtaking, dangerous driving, drunken driving, driving on the wrong side, use of mobile phones while driving and non-human errors such as poor condition of roads and mechanical conditions of vehicles. He expressed concern over the road fatalities because of not wearing safety gear, potholes, and on bridges, culverts and construction sites. He also quantified the accidents that occurred along straight and curved roads and along steep grades.
The department emphasised its ‘Vision Zero Fatality Targets’ for which continuous road safety awareness and school-centred road safety advocacy programmes shall be carried out throughout the year.