Road safety authority in the works

NEW DELHI: A national authority for road safety, provision for recall of vehicles, compulsory road worthiness tests for all cars and two-wheelers are some of the provisions that the road ministry is planning to bring in with its new Road Transport and Safety Bill. A draft bill put out by the ministry on Saturday has proposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment for faulty manufacturing design.

If 100 or more people complain about a defective motor vehicle flouting the safety standards to the proposed national authority, the vehicle would be recalled. The manufacturer of a vehicle which gets recalled would be required to compensate the full value of the motor vehicle to the buyer as per the provisions of the draft bill which has been uploaded on the road transport ministry’s website to invite comments and suggestions from public and other stakeholders. First offence of drunk driving would be fined Rs 25,000 along with imprisonment and suspension of licence.

The penalty would be doubled if a person is caught driving drunk for the second time. The new bill aims at bringing down fatalities in road accidents by 1 lakh in the first five years. Presently, over 5 lakh road accidents occur annually resulting in a death toll of about 1.4 lakh.