Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal presided over the meeting with Public Works Department, Transport, Police, Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), Himachal Pradesh Road & Other Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HPRIDC) and other stakeholder departments to review the road safety in the state here today. He said that state government is committed to ensure road safety and automated driving test tracks will also be established in the state.B.K. Agarwal said that the state government is taking every possible step to ensure good road facility across the state. He said that out of 90 black spots identified by police department, 71 have been rectified by PWD and remaining will be rectified in due course. The HRTC has also identified 169 accidental prone spots and the list has been sent to PWD for further action. Similarly, GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute) has identified 505 black spots out of which 200 black spots have been rectified by PWD.
He said that necessary training will be imparted to stakeholder departments enabling them to identify black spots using the data of RADMS software. As many as 102 workshops were conducted by transport department. He said that driving training schools have been directed to improve quality and follow rules.He said that as per the data obtained from RADMS, the major causes of the accidents in the state are rash driving, over speed, dangerous overtaking, drugs/alcohol intake, slippery and uneven road surfaces, suspected vehicle defect, adverse weather, non-provision of parapets/crash barrier on outer curves etc. Human error remains the main cause of accidents in the state which was 93.61 percent in 2019. He directed police department to strictly punish those found guilty of violating traffic rules as per the law.Additional Chief Secretary (Finance, PWD & Planning) Anil kumar Khachi, Additional Chief Secretary R. D. Dhiman, Director General of Police S.R. Mardi, Principal Secretary Transport Jagdish Chander Sharma, Director, Transport J. M. Pathania , Managing Director, HRTC Sandeep Bhatnagar and other senior officials attended the meeting.