NEW DELHI: Emphasising that the government is committed to undertake the drive for accident-free India on a mission mode, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said there were plans to create road safety awareness as India is one of the biggest contributors to accident fatality numbers.
“We need to educate our children to create safety awareness. We are preparing lessons for school children besides cartoon films. Celebrities also have been requested to come forward for the noble cause. I had talked film actor Aamir Khan, he has assured to come forward.”
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he minister said that in India, there were1.5 lakh road fatalities out of five lakh accidents and the target initially is to reduce the road accidents by 50 per cent.
The road safety bill proposes steep penalties of up to `3 lakh along with a minimum 7-year imprisonment for death of a child in certain circumstances besides huge fines for driving violations. It aims to bring down fatalities in road accidents by 2 lakh in the first five years. It also calls for a fine of `5 lakh per vehicle and imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design.
“We are also in touch with automobile manufacturers to incorporate more safety features, buyers of vehicles should also go in for vehicles with more safety features,” he said.
The bill includes a clause ‘Recall of Vehicles’ wherein it is proposed that a manufacturer may be directed to recall motor vehicles of a particular type or its variants if a defect in that particular type of motor vehicle may cause harm to the driver or occupants or road users.