Road Safety Bill

The Uttar Pradesh Transport Department has proposed a strict "no helmet, no fuel" policy across cities in the state in an effort to reduce road accidents and fatalities involving two-wheelers. Transport Commissioner Brajesh Narain Singh issued an official letter on January 8 directing the fuel station operators not to sell fuel to two-wheeler riders, who are not wearing helmets, including the pillion. The letter sent to the district magistrates of all 75 districts in the state and also marked to the divisional commissioners emphasizes the urgency of the measure, citing data that shows a significant number of two-wheeler accident victims do not wear helmets. It also highlights directions issued by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier this month during a review of road safety measures in the state. The chief minister had noted that annually 25,000-26000 lives are lost in the state due to road accidents. "The majority of deaths in road accidents involving two-wheeler riders are due

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways stated that the programme shall be applicable on type approved vehicles of category M1, manufactured or imported in the country on or after October 1, 2023

According to the NCRB report, in 2021, 155,000 people died in accidents on Indian roads. The number was up from 133,000 in 2020. Total accidents reported also rose to 403,000 in 2021, up from 354,000

Opposition-ruled states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu opposing the Bill as they fear losing some of their powers

A group of 17 members of Parliament, including Indian National Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Biju Janata Dal's Rabindra Kumar Jena and Indian National Lok Dal's Dushyant Singh Chautala, has written to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi for stronger road safety law and suggested bifurcating the proposed Bill into two Bills.In a letter to PM, the group of MPs said minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has said Road Safety Bill would be introduced in the Parliament."Given the bipartisan support for road safety across political formations, the government should consider introducing a strong legislation on road safety immediately," the letter said.It added, road accidents in India are responsible for about 400 deaths every year and cause an economic loss of Rs 3.8 lakh crore. The group also urged PM to allow bifurcation of the draft road safety Bill into two Bills.one on the agreeable road safety and traffic management and the other on the transportation reforms, taxation and ot