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Road accidents a massive economic tragedy: Baijayant Jay Panda, National VP and Spokesperson, BJP

Dec 05, 2019


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 2019Mr 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.

 

The FICCI-PwC report, 'MV (Amendment) Act, 2019 - A Step Towards Safer Mobilitywas released during the conference. The FICCI Road Safety Awards were also given away.

 

Highlights of the report:

 

  • Adaptation by states: A majority of states are reducing the maximum penalties to be imposed for traffic violations under the Act as they consider them to be too high. There are also concerns that higher fines may increase corruption.
  • Capacity building: The MV (Amendment) Act, 2019, introduces significant changes. It is essential that capacity building exercises and training modules are designed for all the relevant stakeholder departments.
  • Setting up of Motor Vehicle Accident Fund: An accident fund is proposed to set up by the Central Government under the Act. The fund proposes to provide cashless insurance cover to road accident victims under defined types of crashes.
  • Setting up of National Road Safety Board: The MV (Amendment) Act has a provision for the setting up of a National Road Safety Board with the aim of providing advisory support to the Central as well as state governments.
  • Compensation for hit and run cases: The compensation for hit and run cases has been increased from Rs 12,500 to Rs 50,000 for grievous injuries and from Rs 25,000 to Rs 2,00,000 in case of death. The higher compensation needs to be supported by a funding source.
  • Penalty for faulty design, road construction and maintenance: The act includes provisions for penalizing road consultants and contractors for faulty road design and poor construction.
  • National Transportation Policy:The act includes a provision for the implementation of a National Transportation Policy. The transportation policy needs to be finalized in consultation with state governments.

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