New Delhi, May 13: The Supreme Court on Wednesday lamented that India virtually has “no concept of lane driving”, a major contributor to road accidents, while issuing a series of directions aimed at strengthening road-safety enforcement across the country.
Hearing a 2012 PIL seeking the implementation of road-safety measures across the country, the court ordered all states and Union territories (UTs) to ensure that vehicle location tracking devices (VLTDs) and panic buttons are installed in all public-transport vehicles.
Observing that VLTDs and panic buttons would ensure the safety of passengers, particularly women, elderly people and children, the bench lamented that only 1 per cent of such vehicles have so far been fitted with these equipment, despite the fact that the Centre mandated the step in 2018.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan referred to the prevalent practice of violating lane-driving norms across the country and termed it a major contributor to accidents.
“How do you ensure in this country that drivers do not do away with lane driving? There is no concept of lane driving in this country. Most of the accidents occur due to that,” Justice Pardiwala said.
“Lane driving is something which will reduce accidents considerably,” the judge said.
The bench then proceeded to deal with issues pertaining to the installation of VLTDs, emergency buttons and speed governors in public-transport vehicles.
“We direct all states and Union territories to strictly enforce Rule 125H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, by ensuring the installation of VLTDs and emergency buttons in a time-bound and verifiable manner in both new and existing public-service vehicles,” it ordered.
The bench further directed that no public-transport vehicle can be granted a fitness certificate or transport permit unless it is fitted with VLTDs and emergency buttons.
It asked the Centre to hold talks with manufacturers to ensure that such devices are installed at the time of manufacturing such vehicles.
The bench also said the installation of such devices must get reflected in the Vahan app and portal.
“We also direct all states and UTs to ensure integration of VLTD installation and functionality with the Vahan database for real-time compliance monitoring,” it said, adding that existing vehicles are also to be fitted with these devices.
On the issue of speed governors, the bench expressed displeasure over the failure of various states in filing compliance reports and said all public-transport vehicles should have this.
“By the next date, all states shall place their reports on record. All manufacturers are bound to fit SLDs (speed-limiting devices). The state governments shall file fresh comprehensive affidavits, setting out due SLD compliance, duly supported by Vahan/Parivahan portal statistics,” it said.
The bench was irked over the fact that despite court orders, a road safety board has not been set up and granted a last opportunity to the Centre, saying the same has to be constituted in three months.
The public interest litigation (PIL) matter was filed in 2012 by S Rajaseekaran, a surgeon who had raised concerns about the large number of road accidents in the country. (PTI)
