Gurgaon: At a time when daily accidents are being reported in Gurgaon due to lack of road safety measures deployed by various civic bodies, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), along with district authorities, civic agencies and police, is working on creating safer streets for pedestrians as well as motorists.
Responding to the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH)’s call to observe road safety month from January 18 to February 17, NHAI, in collaboration with the Gurgaon district administration, GMDA, and traffic police, on Monday launched a month-long road safety drive. The first location for the drive — ‘zero-tolerance’ against traffic offences — was Golf Course Road.
In the coming days, the traffic cops will step up their challan drives against various road offences, especially speeding. Simultaneously, critical intersections like Bristol Chowk will be redeveloped into a pedestrian-friendly street, which would include cycle tracks, pedestrian walkways, tightened corners of the intersections, proper median markings and cat-eye reflectors.
During the drive, the government agencies, including GMDA and MCG, will not only raise awareness towards traffic rules and the basics of safe driving, but also will focus on improving infrastructure and vulnerable intersections like Bristol Chowk, Kanhai Chowk and Ambedkar Chowk, officials told TOI.
NHAI project director Shashi Bhushan said, “Based on the guidelines and plan released by the MoRTH for the road safety month, we would be assessing the stretches in our jurisdiction and fixing the road safety lapses, if found. We would also be conducting various awareness programmes in schools, where we’ll organise workshops on traffic rules and safe driving. At the Kherki Daula toll plaza, we’ll organise road safety events.”
“During this month, we hope to improve the road engineering aspect along with increased awareness on road safety and traffic rules. While on the one hand there’ll be zero-tolerance drives by the traffic police department, we’d collaborate with GMDA in redesigning intersections like Bristol Chowk and Ambedkar Chowk to be more pedestrian friendly on the other hand,” said Sarika Panda-Bhatt, a city-based road safety expert.
The move comes at a time when daily road accidents are being reported due to lack of road safety measures deployed by various civic bodies. Road safety experts have argued that in the absence of independent road safety audit to attach accountability of accidents, the awareness campaigns will achieve little to nothing as majority of the mishaps are the result of lapses in safety measures mandated under the Indian Road Congress.
Sewa Ram, a city-based road safety and mobility expert, said, “Road accidents in the city are mostly due to the dangerous road environments. Places like Atul Kataria Chowk is a classic example of what’s wrong with safety measures in the city. Besides the awareness drive, the city is in dire need of periodic independent road safety audits. The audits will help fix accountability of the engineers and civic bodies that construct these roads and that would eventually result in an improved road environment.”