Shimla: after losing 45 precious lives in Private Bus accident in Banjar in Kullu district, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to launch a special campaign to identify and rectify the black spots on roads of the state so as to minimize the road accidents and the new roads would be passed after the approval by the road safety auditors.
In a meeting of senior officers of the state government, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that the earlier procedure of identifying the black spots would be done away and new mechanism to identify and rectify the black spots would be implemented so that the same could be improved instead of waiting for any untoward incident for it. He said that special focus would be laid on improving rural roads having greater traffic frequency.
The Chief Minister said that special awareness campaign would be launched to sensitize the people regarding over speed, rash driving, drunken driving and use of mobile phones while driving. He said that people would be encouraged to register complaints against the erring drivers. He said that it has been found that 93 percent of accidents occur due to human errors, thus special emphasis would be laid on making driving test more stringent.
Jai Ram Thakur said that all the transport vehicles including taxis would have to display name with photograph of the driver prominently in the vehicles so that the commuters could know that the driver is well trained and authorized to drive the vehicle.
He said that condition of transport vehicles would be ensured properly and laxity in this regard would not be tolerated at any cost. He said that automatic testing of the condition of vehicle would also be done for ensuring that only vehicles with good conditions are on the road. The driver licenses for heavy vehicles would be issued only after ensuring proper test of the drivers. He said that a mechanism such as installing biometric system in driving schools will be adopted so that it could be ensured that the trainee actually undergo training for specific period. He said that efforts would also be made to provide automatic driving test facilities in all the districts of the State.
Jai Ram Thakur said the authorities should also ensure that there is no overloading in transport vehicles. He said that strict action would be taken against the violators. All the school buses would be regularly monitored and school management would be sensitized about the safety guidelines which is the ultimate objective of the government for the safety the commuters.
The Chief Minister said that authorities should identify the crowded stations in the state which require more transport vehicles. He said that to cope up with the issue of overcrowding in the buses, more permits should be issued to mini buses, maxi cabs and trax etc.
