Bengal to introduce new rules, amendments to prevent road accidents

The West Bengal government will introduce a bunch of new traffic rules and pass amendments to some existing regulations to prevent frequent road accidents in the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday.

"We will install CCTV cameras and watch towers at important locations for road safety. Parkomats will be set up to stop cars being unnecessarily parked on the road," Banerjee told the media at the state secretariat Nabanna in neighbouring Howrah district.

She said just as the state government recently provided a green corridor to facilitate cadaver organ transplant, it would set up a clean corridor in emergency situations.

"Like green corridor, we will set up clean corridor in case of emergency situations," she said.

Expressing her concern over the increasing number of road accidents in the state and citizens' indifference towards the state government introduced 'Safe drive, save life' road policy, Banerjee said car owners should take more responsibility while driving and pedestrians should be made aware of the traffic rules.

"Strong steps would be taken against drunken driving and using cell phones while driving. Driving license would be cancelled if traffic rules are violated more than thrice," she warned.

There have been several incidents of death due to reckless driving in the past few months.

Banerjee said she has instructed police to take harsh steps to cut down on reckless accidents.

Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha said that police may charge the car drivers with murder or attempt to murder charges in case of accidental death, looking at the nature of the accident.

--IANS

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