By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, SEPT 02, 2014: UNION Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari yesterday said that a new Road Traffic Act will be brought in the winter session of Parliament, which will be at par with international Acts in the Road Sector. Speaking at a workshop on Road Safety here, the Minister said the existing Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 has outlived its utility and in the fast changing traffic scenario, a holistic Act is needed. He said, the draft of the proposed Act is already reaching final stage and it will have features of the best practices of developed countries like USA, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the UK.

Mr Gadkari lamented that every year, one lakh 38 thousand people are killed in road accidents, the total social cost of which is estimated to be around Rs 1 Lakh Crore. Moreover, 63 % of the road crash deaths occur on National and State Highways. He said, the biggest problem faced in urban areas in addition to road safety is unprecedented growth of vehicles leading to traffic congestion and increasing road traffic violations.

The Minister said that due to lack of effective road engineering, faulty DPRs were made leading to increasing road accidents and fatalities. Calling for total transparency and zero tolerance for corruption, Mr Gadkari said there is need to fix accountability at the highest level for such large number of accidents in the country. He also laid stress on enforcement and education for achieving desired results on the ground. The Minister appreciated the role of Institute of Road Traffic Education towards capacity building of road traffic management based upon 25 years of their research.