Though Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017 has been heralded as a measure to reduce road accidents, there is no mention of any measures to prevent accidents other than higher penalty for drivers and operators.
The proposed amendment is harsh on drivers, truckers and small players, without addressing the causes of accidents.
What is the ground reality?
According to a study only 10 per cent of the accidents occur due to the drivers’ fault.
Long duty hours, stress and strain on the drivers, particularly, the truck drivers are also contributory factors.
However, these facts were not considered while its formulation.
Factors such as traffic discipline, over-congestion, growing number of vehicles beyond the capacity of roads have not been addressed in the Bill.
What are the concerns regarding its provisions?
To regulate and privatize the regulatory mechanism, right from registration of vehicles to inspection.
It will be achieved through concentration of all powers with the Centre in the name of simplification and promoting competition.
This will make the existing State-based regulatory and disciplinary mechanism redundant.
Further, third party insurance is made mandatory for STU buses putting a big burden on the STUs.
Despite State Transport Undertakings (STUs) recording the lowest accident rates in the country this Bill will affect them.
I t also introduces the new concept of ‘Aggregator’.
However the fallout of private aggregator such as Uber and Ola has not been well analyzed before introducing such a new concept.
These aggregators are a threat to auto rickshaws drivers, many of whom are self-employed and couldn’t fulfill the promised salary to the drivers who registered their vehicles with them.
Transport department employees will face job insecurity if their duties and responsibilities are given away to private agencies.
What can be done in this regard?
Segregation of roads and rectification of defects in the construction of roads should be done immediately.
Incorporation of road safety and traffic rules in the school curriculum both in Central and State syllabi will help in ingraining the culture of safe driving.
Reduction of long duty hours and stress and strain on drivers will reduce the accidents due to physical fatigue.
Provision of parking, resting places, motel facilities on highways and strengthening the public transport system by discouraging personalized transport are the other steps to reduce accidents.
The present Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill should be revised to reduce accidents rather than creating an uncertain environment for transport workers and facilitating big companies to earn more.
