THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of the Avinashi accident, the government has decided to frame guidelines for national permit trucks, including container lorries. The guidelines will cover measures for safe driving during night and the number of hours behind the wheel. “The drivers will have to carry smart licence cards which can monitor the driving habits of drivers,” said Transport Minister A K Saseendran, after presiding over a meet of Road Safety Authority on Tuesday.
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) will help in linking licence cards with a GPS tracking system. It would help in monitoring how much time a driver takes in covering a trip. A three-member committee consisting of Road Safety Commissioner, Labour Commissioner and Transport Commissioner will frame the guidelines.
The Motor Vehicle Department has conducted an inquiry into the Avinashi accident involving a KSRTC Volvo bus and container lorry on February 20. According to the minister, the accident was due to careless driving of the container lorry driver. “The container was not locked properly out of negligence. We shall take up the issue with container terminal authorities for better monitoring of vehicles,” said Saseendran.
The minister said the state would request the union government to reconsider its decision to limit the number of drivers in long-distance heavy vehicles to one. The request is based on the findings that drivers get involved in accidents due to fatigue. “The crew change system will be introduced in KSRTC to deal with fatigue. The change will happen after they work for a particular time period,” said Saseendran. The government also has plans to create resting places for drivers along highways.
The Public Works Department will construct as resting places at 36 locations along state highways and 11 locations along national highways. The government has also decided to give more teeth to the Road Safety Authority to bring down accident rates. It has planned to strengthen the enforcement system on major roads, especially during night.
The enforcement squad consists of an officer each from Motor Vehicles Department and the police. The squad will check if the containers are properly locked with the chassis, said the minister. He claimed that there was 15 per cent drop in accident rates in the state after stricter enforcement. “We have fined 51 luxury vehicles for flouting rules and fined them a total of `16 lakh,” said the minister.He said the relatives of the Avinashi accident victims would get the insurance amount of Rs 2 lakh. The kin of the deceased KSRTC crew will get Rs 30 lakh from three different insurance schemes.