The Supreme Court on Friday sought a national action plan for implementation of the amended Motor Vehicle Act provision that mandates state governments to ensure enforcement of road safety on national and state highways and urban area roads by electronic monitoring of vehicular speeds.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala asked the SC Committee on Road Safety to facilitate a dialogue between the ministry of road, transport, and highways with state governments for speedy implementation of Section 136A of the MV Act.
Cause-wise analysis of road accidents revealed 55.9% (87,050 out of 1,55,622 deaths) and 27.5% (42,853 out of 1,55,622 deaths) of fatalities were due to speeding and dangerous/careless driving or overtaking, respectively, in 2021.
Additional solicitor general Madhavi Divan suggested that there could be a national dashboard on stage of implementation of the mandate of Section 136A. Amicus curiae Gaurav Agrawal informed the court that the SC Committee headed is also focussing on eradicating ‘black spots, on highways, the places where accidents often take place, and suggesting widening of rods and and correcting its alignment.
Section 136A says “the Central government shall make rules for the electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety, including speed cameras, closed-circuit television cameras, speed guns, body wearable cameras and such other technology.”The SC Committee in its regular meetings with states have insisted on the respective governments taking proactive steps “to set up annual targets of not less than 10% for reduction of road related fatalities”.
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