Lay stress on deterrence to make city roads safe, says CSE

More emphasis should be laid on deterrence rather than strong punitive action in efforts to make cities safer for pedestrians and smaller vehicles and pollution free, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has suggested.

The suggestion was made at a conference held Monday in Delhi with an aim to make cities safer. Industry experts gave suggestions to be included in the road safety bill, likely to be tabled in parliament.

Organised by the CSE, the conference brought experts, policy makers, and civil society groups working on road safety together to identify gaps and scope of improvement in the bill.

According to the CSE, the bill should adopt a 'vision zero goal' that no one should die or get injured in the road transport system.

In case of an accident, life saving strategies and emergency action should be more explicit as the first one hour is most critical and strong regulatory interventions with requisite infrastructure were needed.

The CSE suggested that more emphasis should be laid on deterrence rather than strong punitive action.

"Global experience shows that regular and visible enforcement on roads acts has a much stronger deterrence," the CSE said.

Among other points, the CSE suggested the reduction of speed limits at accident hotspots in cities, linking road safety with road design, clarification on how national authority will coordinate between state and local bodies.

The CSE sought the inclusion of the points in the final version of the bill which will be presented to the concerned ministries soon.

"Getting the architecture, principles and provisions of this bill right is critical at a time when it is not easy and safe for people to walk and cycle, or access public transport to reach home, offices and recreation centres," said Sunita Narain, director general of CSE.