The Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, recently announced the plan to launch a drive to force all motorists and scooterists to remove crash guards (steel rods fitted to cars and two wheelers) which have been found to cause major injuries to pedestrians and two-wheeler riders. Only a person of Gadkari’s calibre can effectively enforce road safety measures. One may recall that Gadkari had, sometime back, asked the automobile industry to go for manufacture of electric cars so that diesel and petrol-driven cars on Indian roads be history by 2030.
The vehicular traffic is increasing day by day and sadly, the number of reckless drivers and drunk drivers is also on the rise. There are road safety signboards and speed limit signboards on the roads but not many on the driver's seat respect them. The number of road accidents will not come down unless the road safety measures are strictly enforced by the authorities concerned. Our roads are not conducive to high speed as maintenance of roads is far from satisfactory. Hence, there is a need to provide speed limit devices and speed guards to all kinds of vehicles, including two-wheelers. Two-wheeler riders are the first to break all traffic rules especially jumping signals.
Ramanath Nakhate Mumbai
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