Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 13: Following the directions of a Supreme Court-appointed committee on road safety, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked collectors and superintendents of police (SP) of all the districts to take strong action against the violators of traffic rules.
“Considering the menace of road accidents and directions of the committee, you are requested to pay adequate attention and take penal action against violators of traffic rules. Joint enforcement by police and officials of the transport department should be planned and conducted at the district level for a day very week each for detection of overloading, drunken driving and overspeeding, violation of helmet laws, seat belt laws and using mobile phone while driving,” Padhi said in a letter to all collectors and SPs recently.
The chief secretary asked the SPs to review the cases registered in connection with these offences at the prosecution stage each month. He also directed the SPs to submit a monthly report indicating the number of cases detected, number of prosecutions submitted and number of driving licenses suspended to the transport commissioner for appraisal of the panel. Padhi would also chair a high-level meeting in this regard here Tuesday.
The SC-appointed committee has recommended suspension of driving license for a period of not less than three months under the Motor Vehicle Act for overspeeding, jumping red light, carrying overload in goods carriages, driving drunk and using mobile phones while driving, Padhi said.
In its observation, the Justice KS Radhakrishnan panel said unless strong and urgent measures are taken to deal with violations of traffic rules such as overspeeding, drunken driving and red light jumping, the number of accidents and fatalities will continue to remain high. It has asked the state governments to establish institutional arrangements to promote road safety, undertake engineering measures to make roads safe and promote road safety education.
The CS would review action taken by different districts on the direction of the panel through video conferencing at the secretariat Thursday. Earlier, the state government had formed state-level and district-level road safety panels for implementation of various road safety activities across the state, sources said.
Orissa, though not among the top 13 road accident-prone states, accounts for around 1.97 per cent of total road accidents in the country and 2.81 per cent of the fatalities recorded countrywide. The accident rate per 10,000 vehicles remains around 18.91 per cent in the state against the national average of 26.8 per cent.
The state recorded around 9,648 road accidents last year, in which 3,931 people were killed and 11,087 injured. The total loss of property due to accidents in 2014 was around Rs 70 crore in Orissa.
