A large part of the blame for the rising number of accident cases in the State is pinned on the police and the government. However, councils formed by the government to ensure road safety too fail to perform their duties. For instance, in 2007, the State government constituted an inter-departmental institutional mechanism to address road safety issues at the State and district levels. The Road Safety Council is headed by the Transport Minister at the State level and the District Collector at the district level. Officials from the police, transport and health departments are part of the council, which is supposed to meet regularly and discuss steps to prevent road accidents. Over the years, however, the councils have become inactive with no visible action, except for the annual celebration of the Road Safety Week. In the occasional meetings too, members discuss ways of spending the road safety fund generated by collecting fines from traffic violators, a district superintendent of police says. “We bring the absence of traffic signals at certain places to their notice and ask for the funds to be used for that,” she says.
Experts blame the inactivity of such institutional mechanisms for the failure of the government’s attempts to make the roads safer. Pointing out that the State Road Safety Council has turned into a mute spectator to the ever increasing toll, experts call for the formation of a dedicated agency with adequate powers and expertise to coordinate road safety measures.
“What we require is a permanent body with statutory powers and adequate funds to coordinate steps to maintain road safety rather than just a few officials meeting once in while. In our State, the transport commissioner is the road safety commissioner and the district collectors are chairpersons of District Road Safety Councils. But these officials have several other priorities and clearly can’t give enough attention to the matter (of road safety),” says transport expert Dr N S Srinivasan. The World Health Organisation (WHO) too supports the formation of a lead agency to coordinate the efforts of a wide spectrum of departments. While the State highway authorities and local bodies are responsible for building roads, the transport department is tasked with issuing driving licences, registration of vehicles and assessing their fitness. It is the job of the police to regulate traffic and enforce laws.
A dedicated agency for road safety in India was visualised way back in 2005 when the Central government’s Sundar committee report on road safety and traffic management recommended national and State-level road safety management boards. “Responsibility for road safety is diffused and there is no single agency to deal with a range of problems associated with it. There is also no effective mechanism for coordinating the activities of the different agencies dealing with road safety. The role of key ministries and public sector agencies in improving road safety is peripheral. It is not a priority area in their agenda for development,” the report noted.