Car insurance may come with accident cover

Road ministry mulls a fee of Rs 15 for such a cover.



The road transport ministry is planning to charge up to Rs 15 on every premium paid for insuring vehicles to fund a scheme to provide cashless hospital facility to victims of accidents on national highways.

“The ministry has suggested charging of Rs 15 as a premium for the vehicle insurance policy,” said a source in the ministry.

There are around 10 million registered vehicles in the country and the total insurance premium collected in 2008-09 was Rs 30,601 crore. The administrative heads of the districts would administer the fund, according to the proposal.

The government is working to provide cashless medical facility under the scheme as accident victims usually have to follow long procedures to get claims from insurance companies.

The government has constituted a committee to find ways to fund the scheme. The committee has members from four public sector insurance companies (National Insurance Companies, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority, the General Insurers (Public) Sector Association and Reliance General Insurance. The committee will submit its report by mid-January.

According to a World Health Organization report of a survey on road safety in 178 countries, constituting 98 per cent of world’s population, India leads in the number of deaths due to road accidents. India reported 105,000 traffic deaths in a year, compared with over 96,000 in China. Also, in India, an estimated two million people have disabilities
resulting from a road accident.

Over 1.2 million people die each year on world’s roads and 20-50 million suffer non-fatal injuries. In most regions of the world, this is increasing. Road traffic injuries are one of the top three causes of death of people between 5 years and 44 years.

Predictions are that by 2030, road traffic injuries will become the fifth leading cause of death worldwide.

Also, a lot of questions has been raised over the safety on the roads in India. Union Roads and Transport Minister Kamal Nath had announced that his ministry aimed of reduce accidents on the roads by half in the next three years.

The road transport and highways ministry had been able to utilise only 10 per cent of the fund allocated for providing road safety during the current financial year till November-end.

But in an embarrassment to the ministry, of the Rs 79 crore it got for safety in the current financial year, it had sued only Rs 7.6 crore till November. Also during the past two financial years, the ministry returned a part of its allocation, utilising Rs 54.9 crore of Rs 73 crore given in 2008-09 and Rs 42.9 crore of the Rs 52 crore allotted in 2007-08.

Primarily, safety of road users is the responsibility of the state governments, but the road transport ministry has schemes to make national highways safer. The ministry is supposed to run awareness campaigns for road safety, provide refresher training to heavy motor vehicle drivers, and provide ambulances and cranes on the highways for post accident care. It also does education and awareness campaigns.

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Compulsory `baby seats' in cars and covered trucks will finally touch down on India's highway network, with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway

TWO key moves that could make Indian roads safer by notches are set to be implemented in 2010. Compulsory "baby eats" in cars and covered rucks will finally touch down n India's expanding highway network, with the Ministry of road Transport & Highways ready to notify the two new rules next year. At present, both proposals are awaiting the Law Ministry's nod.

Moving to radically change he way India's three million plus trucks ply, the government plans to make it mandatory for all trucks to have closed cargo sections with overs at the top and in the ear. The truck driver's cabin too will have to meet certain standards like adequate seating space and controlled cabin temperature, never exceeding 35 degrees Celsius.

The truck body code suggests green tinted windscreen, slide windows, blowers, ventilation points and lining the whole cabin area with heat insulating material for the driver's comfort. No part of the vehicle's fixed component should intrude into the driver's work area -- this will ensure minimal injury in case of accidents.

While the cargo section will be a closed unit, no mountable carrier will be permitted above it. Once the truck body code is notified, all new trucks manufactured in India will have to follow these rules and the existing ones will be given a year's time to upgrade. And when truck covers become a must, the ministry hopes to end the practice of overloading.

"The idea to is to make Indian roads safer and also make trucks safer vehicles.

Maximum road accidents are said to be caused by heavy goods vehicles, mostly trucks.

We have formulated a truck body code as per which all trucks will have standard dimensions and the cargo section will have to be a closed unit, all covered up, as is the norm in most developed countries. This will ensure goods don't spill on to the road in case of an accident.

The severity of accident will also be lessened. Truck specifications will be such that in the event of an accident, minimal damage is caused," said a senior Ministry official. That apart, India will finally take one more crucial step to road safety by mandating the installation of "Child Restraint Systems" (CRS) across all power drive four-wheelers from passenger cars to passenger buses. The idea is to create a safe and designated space for children in cars.

Across Europe and the US, besides other countries like Australia,CRS is mandatory in all vehicles. The planned implementation schedule is two years for new car models and three years for existing models.

The Central Motor Vehicle Rules-Technical Standing Committee has already formulated automotive industry standards in order to make CRS compulsory -- the next big step after making seat belts
compulsory in cars.

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Gurgaon traffic police to allot more funds for awareness drives

FOLLOWING the lead of their Delhi counterparts, the Gurgaon police have now approached their headquarters with the request that they be allowed to spend half the funds collected as fines or challans to raise awareness on traffic safety issues among road users.
The Gurgaon police collected a whopping Rs 4 crore in the form of fines from approximately 84,936 challans issued from January 1 till December 31 in 2009, records show.
"If we can allocate 50 per cent of this amount to teaching commuters -- through various campaigns at school and college levels -- that road safety is largely their own responsibility, it will help bring down the number of fatalities and injuries in road accidents," S S Deswal, Gurgaon Commissioner of Police, said.
As per data available, the number of people killed in road accidents was almost four to five times the number of those killed in other crimes like murders etc, he added.
"If we have more resources, we can carry out informative campaigns though the mass media like newspapers, television, posters and hoardings," the police chief said. He added the police will carry out a massive drive during the Road Safety Week starting from Friday.
"We will issue fewer challans and instead educate people," he said.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satinder Gupta, there has been almost a 23 per cent reduction in the number of deaths or injuries caused by road accidents in all three zones of Gurgaon in 2009, compared to the previous year.
"Through data available, we have marked a couple of priority areas like the Expressway, DLF area and Sushant Lok, where we have carried out intense drives against speeding, drink driving and underage driving.
The results have been encouraging," DCP Gupta said.

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Road-safety audit for all big highway projects

NEW DELHI: From now onwards, updated road safety audits will be carried out on all big road projects including national highways (NHs) to make them safer.

As per the recently approved road safety manual by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), experts will carry the safety audit not just during the design and implementation phases of the projects but also in the post operation period to identify deficiencies and rectify them.

Sources in this premier body of technical highway engineers said the IRC council had approved the road safety audit guideline and this would be published in the next two months. "Once that is in place, all major road projects will follow guidelines mentioned in the manual. Even the state public works department (PWD) constructing major roads could use the guidelines to make the stretches safe," said a senior IRC official.

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Booklet on road safety released

Gurgaon, Dec 21 (PTI) A booklet titled ?A Guide to Road Safety? was released by Gurgaon Police Commissioner S S Deswal today. Published by Tarang, an organisation for road safety and traffic management, this booklet is distributed among students so that they understand traffic rules and it is ensured that children develop habit of following safety measures on roads. Releasing the booklet, Deswal said that Gurgaon police is organising All India Roads Safety Week from January 1 to 7, 2010 to spread awareness regarding safety measures. He appealed every citizen to follow and respect traffic rules, as obeying traffic rules not only ensures smooth flow of traffic, but also saves life of near and dear ones. "Every driver on our roads contributes to humanity by safe driving," Deswal said.

Source-http://www.ptinews.com/news/434209_Booklet-on-road-safety-released

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HC forms panel to check menace of fake driving licence(Times of India,December 11,2009)

New Delhi: With one lakh people dying in road accidents every year in the country, the Delhi High Court has suggested a tough law to check fake driving licence holders and those who issue such licences.
The court has also set up a committee comprising five lawyers and the joint commissioner of police and directed the police to convene a meeting of committee members with insurance companies to have a detailed discussion to sort out the problem on December 14.
While hearing a motor accident case in which the driver had a fake driving licence, Justice J R Midha, in an order, has sent 9 suggestions, submitted by senior counsel Arun Mohan, to the export committee of the ministry of road and transport for consideration.
Advocate Mohan suggested a special cell with an e-mail address to be created to entertain the complaints relating to fake licence holders. Whenever the police registers an FIR against a person for driving with fake licence, particulars of the FIR be entered by the cell in the entry against the information received, the counsel suggested.
He said the cell should prepare a tabulated chart for the information received and look for any pattern within it and take action according to law. The senior lawyer said the details about the offender should be displayed on the website so that the transport authorities in other states can access the information. The cops should maintain a record of e-mails and initiate appropriate action against the offenders and interrogate the owner of the vehicle for allowing a fake licence holder to drive.
He also suggested that MACT should ensure the presence of the driver, the owner and the victim and direct the insurance company to give compensation as immediate help to the victim’s family. The court issued notice to the insurance company and the ministry of road and transport and fixed December 16 as the next date of hearing.

ACTION PLAN

To tackle the menace of fake licences, HC has formed a panel to consider these:
Special police cell for fake driving licences
Control cell to maintain digital records on fake licence
Cell to look for “patterns” to find offenders
Police to weigh option of making information available to transport authority
Frame strict law to provide severe punishment for offenders
Removal of unsafe vehicles and obstructions from the road

Source-http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=CAP&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&AW=1260508924156

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Overspeeding accounts for over 50% of road accidents(Times of India,December10,2009)

New Delhi: Exceeding the lawful speed limit is the single biggest reason for road accidents . According to a submission by the road, transport and highways ministry (MoRTH) in Lok Sabha, overspeeding is responsible for over 51% of road accidents whereas driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs is the reason for 5% of road mishaps.
In a written reply, minister of state Mahadev Khandela said in Rajya Sabha that there was an increase in the percentage of road mishaps due to overspeeding. While in 2004, 1,98,72 accidents out of 4,29,910 were due to overspeeding , it shot up to 2,47,371 in 2007 out of the total road accidents of 4,79,216.
Significantly, the ministers reply also highlights the increasing share of pedestrians , cyclists and two-wheeler drivers in the fatalities during 2004-07 . While the share of these three groups as a percentage of total persons killed in road accidents was 29.5%, it touched 40.2% in 2007. This data excludes road accidents in Delhi.
However, traffic experts feel that singling out any one factor for road mishaps is premature since there is no proper investigation of these accidents . In yet another written reply, Khandela informed the Lok Sabha that Tamil Nadu registered the highest number of accidents on national highways with 19,910 in 2007. Maharashtra came second (13,563), followed by Karnataka (13,310) and Andhra Pradesh (13,040).
Interestingly, the ministrys submission claimed that the number of road mishaps on NHs had slipped in 2007.


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