Road Safety Network calls for ordinance after Motor Vehicle Bill lapses

The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2017, that sought to carry out the much-required overhaul of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988, had received the assent of the Lok Sabha on April 10 last and was introduced for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha in the Winter Session last eyar. However, after the failure to get the Bill passed, the network urged the Centre to take measures to issue an ordinance to save lives.

“The Transport Minister had committed to bringing a strong road safety law following the demise of Gopinath Munde in a road crash in 2014. Since his efforts in Parliament to pass the Bill have not been successful, we urge him to issue an Ordinance in the interim on this important issue,” Piyush Tewari of SaveLIFE Foundation said.

India tops in road accident deaths and every year nearly 1.5 lakh people are killed in accidents and another 5 lakh are severely injured, many of them disabled for life. The Bill was aimed to tackle this pandemic by strengthening road safety policy framework in the country through introduction of various provisions related to road safety, such as stricter penalties for violations and the ability to hold road contractors liable for defective designs and poor maintenance of roads.

India is also a signatory to the Brasilia Declaration, where the country made a commitment to reduce road accident deaths by 50 per cent by 2020. The deadline is fast approaching, but India is nowhere close to meeting the target, the network has pointed out.