BHUBANESWAR: Expressing concern over rising road fatalities despite several measures, the Odisha government has urged the Centre to enhance insurance premiums for vehicles committing repeated violations of traffic rules.
The state Commerce and Transport department has moved the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for levying higher insurance premiums on frequent offenders so that the drivers are discouraged from flouting road laws.
As the insurance premium issues are dealt with by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the principal secretary of Commerce and Transport Usha Padhee has urged the Union Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Anurag Jain to take up the matter at the appropriate forum. Around 1.5 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents in India every year and many more suffer debilitating injuries. This causes immense economic hardship and emotional trauma to the affected families.
In a recent meeting of the State Road Safety Council chaired by chief secretary PK Jena, it was decided to take steps for charging higher insurance premiums on the vehicles, which are violating traffic rules repeatedly. Though it is yet to be decided how much premium would be charged, it would be levied in addition to the existing premium offered by the motor insurance companies. A discussion with the general insurance companies has also been held and they have agreed to extend all possible cooperation in this regard.
Stressing that there is an urgent need to make roads safer because the loss of lives and limbs cannot be accepted as an inevitable consequence of mobility, Padhee suggested the vehicles which are violating traffic rules repeatedly can be detected by integrating the database of Vahan with IRDAI.
Accordingly, higher premiums can be charged from such vehicles at the time of renewal of insurance. The additional premium collected may be shared with the state for taking up various road safety activities. The detailed modalities of revenue sharing may be finalised later, she added.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to create a profile of drivers based on their driving history and categorise them as safe or risky. The nature of traffic violations of drivers would be linked to their driving licence and shared with the motor insurance companies. A higher premium would be levied on the risky drivers whenever they approach for renewal of the insurance.