In India, 147913 people have died in road accident only in 2017. It shows something is wrong with road transport system. According to ministry of road transport 78% of road accidents happens due to negligence of the driver.

Therefore, to attend the target of 50% reduction in road accident by 2020 under Brasilia declaration government has introduced amendment to motor vehicle act.

Provisions of the Act:

• Increased penalty for violation of traffic rules.
• Penalty for Juvenile driving and making the owner of vehicle accountable.
• Provision of double fine for violation bye police and traffic inspector.
• Good Samaritan rule inculcated.
• Tight RTO rule for granting license.

Role of increased fine

• Most of the accidents are due to driver’s negligence of traffic rule.
• Increased penalty will act as a deterrent for those who violate the rule
• It will take juveniles off the roads as it has very high penalty in this case.
• There will be all over awareness, improvement among the masses about the traffic rules.

Importance of Transport Infrastructure –

• Scientific construction of road improve is of driving such as proper turn over bridges etc. Other Infrastructures such as traffic lights signals etc. to tell drivers about what lies ahead. Hence give him enough time to take proper actions.
• Emergency services such as dedicated ambulance, phone booth, availability of first aid reduces the impact of an accident and contribute in saving life.
• Automatic sensors to detect traffic violation provide another layer of deterrence for violating traffic rules.

Way forward

• Adoption of the bill by all the States. In theory, heftier fines should act as a deterrent for speeding but in practice, this may not happen. Higher fines could mean more rent-seeking as drivers pay off authorities to avoid fines or simply abscond.
• According to TRIPP, the global experience with imposing stricter penalties has not proven to change driver behaviour and has even decreased overall enforcement of penalties. A better strategy, then, could be to ensure that speed limits are enforced more regularly.
• The WHO’s global report, which measured enforcement levels across the world, rated India’s enforcement as fairly weak. One way to address this could be through technology such as speed cameras and in-vehicle sensors.
• Rather than concentrating only on fine for behaviour change other methods of persuasion should also be used side by side.
• Attention should also be paid on curbing corruption because in Christ find also opens a new Avenue for corruption by traffic officers.

Conclusion

To have effective curbing of road accident behaviour change of driver is necessary along with proper infrastructure because without enabling infrastructure traffic violation is bound to happen. In paucity of infrastructure citizen of fun things government is is transfer in their responsibilities on the shoulder of general people. However, better enforcement alone may not be enough. The United Nations’ prescription for road safety policy is that it should focus on five key areas together: improving road safety management capacity; developing safe infrastructure; rolling out safer cars; changing road-user behaviour and improving post-crash care.