A high level meeting on matters relating to road safety held here today under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary B.K Agarwal. The Chief Secretary directed to take effective steps for road safety so that the security of life and property could be ensured in the state.The Chief Secretary said that there is an average of 3,000 incidents per year in the state and to reduce these accidents, the Public Works Department, Police and Road Transport Department should jointly work together. He said that 80 percent of accidents in the state are due to human faults, while 15 percent of accidents are due to bad condition of the road and adverse weather conditions and 5 percent of accidents are caused due to technical issues. He said that the cases of two wheelers accidents have been reported highest in the state, while motor car accidents have been increased from 30 to 36 percent and bus accidents are 8 to 11 percent.He said that 505 black spots have been identified in the state, which is reported sensitive to cause accidents in the state. He ordered the District Superintendent of Police and Public Works Department to jointly visit these sites and ensure the improvement of these sites. He also directed the Road Transport Department to conduct comparative study of the causes of bus accidents in the state and also asked the department to create a policy within one month to stop the accidents and said that strict adherence to the rules should be ensured to prevent accidents. He said that rules should be followed strictly during the driving license process so that only eligible people can get driving license.
B.K. Agarwal directed to ensure quality and improvement in 270 driving schools established in the state. He said that these schools should have biometric machines and it should be mandatory to keep all records of these schools. He also instructed to inspect these schools on regular basis. He said that State Police department have sent 1643 cases of cancellation of License to Registration and License Authority (RLA). He directed RLA to take necessary action on these cases within 15 days.He also instructed the police and the district administration to mark the dangerous sites in the direction of accidents in different link roads of the district. He asked the concerned departments to organize awareness camps to make people aware about road safety and instructed to keep a strict check and on the licenses of private bus drivers and to conduct workshops from time to time. He said that the meeting will be held every month on issues related to road safety.Additional Chief Secretary Health R.D. Dhiman, Director Road Transportation Corp. J.M. Pathania, ADGP SB Nagi, Executive Engineer Public Work Department (PWD) R.P. Verma and officials of Police, Health, Road Transport, and Education Department were also present on the meeting.