A new 'Delhi Road Safety Policy' has been proposed which will now require all fatal road accident will have to be scientifically investigated to find out what caused it. As per the new policy, which was approved by state transport minister Kailash Gahlot, authorities will now have to carry out the investigation within three months to determine any kind of road engineering defect or any other traffic related issue that might have caused the accident. This is the first-of-its-kind road safety policy introduced for the National Capital.
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Delhi has been known to have the highest number of road fatalities among all the cities in India. With an average of almost 5 deaths per day due to road accidents, the 43 per cent of road fatalities include pedestrians and 36 per cent are people on two-wheelers. With the new policy, the transport department aims to reduce accidents and road fatalities in Delhi by 30 per cent by 2020 and by 80 per cent by 2025.
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The policy requires having special teams in place comprising of the state police, transport department and road operators, who will operate at state and district levels to conduct scientific accident investigations using simulation techniques. Agencies will now have to conduct anti-encroachment drives to clear carriageways and pedestrian walkways, one of which was conducted on the stretches of the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Andheria Mod and Chirag Dilli. The government will enlist experts to conduct a safety audit of all roads including aspects such as signage, road engineering flaws and traffic problems.
It will also be mandatory for the department to conduct a special training programme for all officials, including engineers and police officers, every two years, in order to keep them up-to-date with technology and investigation process. In fact, authorities believe that sharing expertise among officials from the different department will only help in making the roads of Delhi much safer. The transport department will also put up the in the public domain this week for feedback, which will be open for a month. Later the feedback will be sent to the Lieutenant Governor for his approval.
