In News: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will, from now on, also look after the development of Ropeways and Alternate Mobility Solutions (AMS).
What is Black Spot ?
- A definition is established for designating an accident prone location as “Black Spot” based on combined criteria of the number of fatalities and accidents.
- Road accident black spot is literally not a spot but is a short stretch of road
- Of about 500 m length
- Where Five accidents involving serious injuries/fatalities or Ten fatalities took place during the past 3 calendar years.
- Sometimes single accident can have multiple fatalities. Hence number of fatal/ grievous accidents at the same location is better indicator of problematic road / road environment (i.e., Black spot) than the number of fatalities.
Genesis of black spots
- Black spots which are short stretches where the accidents /fatalities take place repeatedly get created on the road network due to various reasons like
- Commissions & omissions in the development projects
- Changes in the road side environment
- Changes in developmental scenario in the region
- Unplanned developments /unauthorized constructions on/ near the roads like advertisement boards, Poles, statues, buildings, trees, bushes etc.
- Therefore rectifying the black spots is a continuous process.
Government policy initiatives for improving Road Safety:
- The National Road Safety Policy looks at overall road safety, and outlines initiatives to be taken by the Government at all levels.
- The government is committed to:
- Raise Awareness about Road Safety Issues
- Establish a Road Safety Information Database
- Ensure Safer Road Infrastructure
- Safer vehicles with built in features at the design stage
- Road Traffic Safety Education and Training
- Enforcement of Safety Laws
- Emergency Medical Services for Road Accidents
- Government has decided to establish a dedicated National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board (NRSTMB) to oversee the issues related to road safety and evolve effective strategies for implementation of the Road Safety Policy
- Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed in Lok Sabha and pending at committee stage, seeks to address various issues, including road safety:
- The Bill allows the government to order for recall of motor vehicles if it may cause damage to the environment, driver or other road users.
- Good Samaritan will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim.
- Bill increases penalties for several offences under the Act like drunken driving
- Cashless treatment for road accident victims during golden hour.
- Compensation in case of death in hit and run accident, where no person can be held liable for the accident
- However, the Bill does not provide for any road safety agencies or improving road design and engineering.
- Constitution of National Road Safety Council (NRSC)/ State Road Safety Councils and District Committees.
- Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) has been made mandatory for some classes of vehicles.
Policy initiatives in Road Accident data
- Practice of assigning unique ID numbers to identified black spots is initiated to facilitate their monitoring and tracking
- Efforts are being made to work out a web based software for capturing road accident data and its automated transmission.
- Crowdsourcing and mobile application technologies are being explored to collect road accident data.
- All the states and UTs have to take active interest in establishing state level road safety engineering cells to work exclusively in this area. 23 Black spot improvem
Ropeways
- A ropeway is a form of naval lifting device used to transport light stores and equipment across rivers or ravines.
- It comprises a jackstay, slung between two sheets one at either end, from which is suspended a block and tackle, that is free to travel along the rope and hauled back and forth by inhauls.
- An amendment to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 has been notified, to enable this step.
Source: The Hindu and MoRTH
