Maharashtra CM And Deputy CM Analyse Road Safety, Suggest Actions And Initiatives
Mumbai, 17th October 2022: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said today that modern vehicle test centres and automatic vehicle test lanes for vehicle licenses will be set up at 23 places in the state. He further explained that the concerned departments should immediately remove the black spots declared due to frequent accidents on the roads in the state. The Collector and the District Superintendent of Police should coordinate to eliminate the blackspot in their area. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed to celebrate Road Safety Week at least three times a year here today.
Meanwhile, the world’s smartest traffic safety system should be implemented on the Samriddhi Highway. Fadnavis gave instructions on this occasion.
A meeting was held at Sahyadri Guest House to decide on road safety measures and revised policy. The Chief Minister was speaking at that time. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Public Works Minister Ravindra Chavan, Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, Health Minister Dr Tanaji Chavan, Chief Secretary Manukumar Srivastava, Additional Chief Secretary Transport Department Ashish Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary Public Works Department Manoj Saunik, Additional Chief Secretary Home Department Anand Limaye, Director General of Police Rajnish Seth, Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, and secretaries of various departments were present. All Divisional Commissioners, Collectors, and District Police Chiefs participated through the video system.
Chief Minister Shinde said on this occasion, “The rate of loss of life in road accidents in the state is high. The increasing proportion of youth in it is alarming, and measures should be taken to control accidents by avoiding human errors. Black spots have been declared on roads where accidents occur frequently. They should be removed immediately. The departments under whose jurisdiction such roads and highways should take immediate action to remove this black spot.” While saying that awareness about road safety should be created in schools and colleges through courses, the Chief Minister suggested that helmets should be enforced effectively across the state and driver training institutes should be strengthened.
By holding a meeting of the security committee under the chairmanship of the Collector, the Collector should remove the blackspots in his area of operation through the coordination of all the departments. Road safety and trauma care centres in the district should be reviewed from time to time through committee meetings. The Chief Minister said that an automatic vehicle test track will be set up to issue licenses to drivers. Where speed breakers are required on highways, speed breakers should be provided. The Chief Minister also said that the unnecessary road dividers on the highways should be removed.
Penalty action is taken in case of violation of traffic rules. However, the Deputy Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, instructed that a team should be appointed to take action against drivers who change lanes quickly (lane jump) on the expressway. The Deputy Chief Minister said that while keeping an eye on the reckless drivers through this team, they will pursue them and take punitive action against them. He said to implement such a campaign on the Mumbai-Pune expressway immediately.
To prevent accidents, smart systems, which are on the roads globally, should be installed on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Highway. Due to this, Samriddhi Highway can become the smartest highway in the world, the Deputy Chief Minister also said.
There are 1,004 black spots in the state, and about 72 percent of the accidents are due to overspeeding. It was said during the presentation that the accident rate in places where a black spot is declared is 53 percent. Penal action has been taken against around six crore people in the state for violating traffic rules. It was said on this occasion that the Mrityunjay Doot project is being implemented for accident control and relief and 5,351 Mrityunjay Doots have been appointed across the state.
