NEW DELHI, 5 December 2019: Mr Baijayant Jay Panda, National Vice President and Spokesperson, BJP,today said that road accidents are an enormous economic tragedy apart from being a human tragedy.  

Speaking at the FICCI Conference on Road Safety 2019, Mr Panda said, "We can't afford to have a situation where we lose productive members of the society."

Mr Panda talked about the need to inculcate the habit of conforming to road safety in one's formative years and lauded FICCI for focusing on schools as part of its efforts to raise awareness about road safety.

"The new Motor Vehicles Act provides protection to good samaritans. This is important because the first golden hour is crucial to the survival of road accident victims," Mr Panda added.

He called on the industry to play an active role in ensuring road safety. "Our corporates play a very big role in setting standards. If we can bring those practices to bear on society as a whole, we can have a dramatic effect," he added.

Mr Rahul Chaudhary, Chairman, FICCI Homeland Security Committee, said that road safety has to be an apolitical issue. "Road safety is one area through which we can bring huge impetus to the economy as most of the time it is the earning member of the family who succumbs to road accidents," he noted.

Mr Chaudhary pointed out that in Delhi, where the new Motor Vehicles Act was implemented fully, violation of road safety rules has come down by 80%.

Mr Devayan Dey, Director, PwC, said, "You need to invest around $15 billion in the next 10 years for road safety. We need the industry to channelize their funds to make the road safety strategy a success." He highlighted the need to have dedicated road safety campaigns based on data.

Mr KK Kapila, Co-chair, FICCI Infrastructure Committee, pointed out, "We lose 3% of our GDP on account of road accidents. It could have taken care of the education of each and every child in this country."

He mentioned that bystanders should be trained in first-aid trauma care so that they can help victims in the golden hour after an accident. He urged corporates to assist in this initiative.