New Delhi: Eminent road safety experts have stressed on the need of further elaboration of type of traffic violations which would qualify for dangerous driving as at present simple violation of traffic regulations including crossing a red light is considered as dangerous driving.
“It is the gravity of violation with reference to the nature, condition and use of place which should in fact translate to danger. There is a need to further elaborate the type of violations which would qualify for Inappropriate, negligent, inconsistent, inconsiderate, poor, bad, aggressive, rash, dangerous behaviour’s and which of these would qualify for severest punishment, whether when a serious accident is caused or otherwise. .” said Dr Rohit Baluja , President, Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) while releasing recommendations of a recently held seminar on Dangers in Road usage .
“Each case of fatal road crash should be treated as that of “Unlawful Killings” or Homicide, until the contrary is proved. Treat each Crash Scene as a Crime Scene, and ensure that the highest levels of evidence are presented to the Courts. Simple or just a violation of traffic regulations should not be considered as dangerous. It is the gravity of violation with reference to the nature, condition and use of place which should in fact translate to danger.” Dr Baluja said.
“Error by a driver may indeed trigger a crash but may not necessarily be the underlying cause. Human behaviour is governed not only by individual knowledge and skills but also the environment in which the behaviour takes place. Indirect influence such as design and layout of the road, traffic laws and their enforcement or lack of enforcement affects the driver behaviour in many ways. In case of a violation a behavioural cause behind a serious/fatal crash other related factors must be examined as well. These include infrastructural issues such as roads being constructed without complying with safety standards, poorly designed, wrongly installed traffic control devices or even lack of them.” He said.
“In a similar manner as the police departments have created specialized units and police stations for dealing with special crimes like cyber frauds, economic offences, crime against women, terrorist activities, there is a need to create a specialized unit for investigation of serious and fatal road crashes. Meanwhile staff members should be identified and provided with specialized training to deal with road accident cases.” Dr Baluja said.
“Road Authorities who are responsible for installation and maintenance of traffic control devices must ensure compliance with applicable standards/Codes of Practice. Road Traffic Violations occurring on account of such failures or negligence should amount to personal negligence of such officers of the authority who were responsible for daily review, clearance of such affixation, and audit of the same. They should be responsible in terms of compensation of the value of such violations which the road user would have had to pay in normal conditions.” Dr Baluja added.
“In case of minor injury or material damage accidents, caused on account of failures in road and traffic engineering, the responsible engineers of the authority should be made responsible in order to be penalized. Penalties should include fiscal, imprisonment and suspension from service.” He concluded.