United Spirits-NDTV Road To Safety, a Diageo Initiative is a social campaign to make our roads safer and attempt to reduce the number of 'preventable accidents' by encouraging citizens to demonstrate more responsible behavior behind the wheel. The campaign is now in its third edition and will be organising a conclave on January 11 from 11am onwards, which will attempt to address the issue of road safety.
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We need safety audits and accountability. We cannot keep calling areas accident-prone zones for years and do nothing about it: Prasanna Patwardhan, Chairman and Managing Director of Purple Transportation
We don't have facilities on highways but we have alcohol shops ever 1 minute. The reason is that state governments are placing too much importance on collecting revenue. It will take 2 to 3 years for the Supreme Court (SC) order banning liquor shops on highways to be completely enforced because states will protest. The order asks for the immediate removal of alcohol advertising but it is still there. Despite the fact that the Police authorities are supposed to be accountable for the implementation of the SC order: Harman Singh Sidhu, Founder of ArriveSAFE NGO and Former Accident Victim
65% of the road accidents happen on National Highways. We have displaced villages to build highways and the requirements of these villages were not considered, only the requirement of the traffic was thought of and a road built, without any other thought about safety. The biggest weakness is that there are no signages for speed limits. There are no highway patrol systems either: Rohit Baluja, President at Institute of Road Traffic Education
Meet the Panelists of #RoadToSafetyConclave: India's Killer Highways - Why Are Our Highways Becoming Highways To Death?
We need to seriously and sincerely look at road safety and road planning. In the next 5-10 years with the way traffic is increasing in Delhi-NCR, we are going to have to handle this in a more innovative way: Garima Bhatnagar, Jt Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police
People wear seatbelts, but mothers continue to put children on their laps. This puts them at risk and the responsibility does not end with putting on a seat belt. This is something that they need to realise: Dr Shankar Vishwanath, Consultant to the Mumbai Traffic Police and Advisor to The National Highways Commission
I believe that the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill is a good step but it has unfortunately been stuck for more than 5 months now: Saji Cherian, Director-Operations at SaveLIFE Foundation
Overall, road discipline is a challenge for all of us. We try to encourage traffic cops by holding workshops, health checkups, etc. It is a difficult job. There are very clear instructions to traffic constables to not take anything into consideration-whether someone knows someone influential or not: Garima Bhatnagar, Jt Commissioner of Delhi Traffic Police
In three-lane roads we have eight lanes because 76% of the vehicles are two-wheelers. Everyone is violating the rules and this is because the infrastructure does not allow it. No amount of CCTVs can fix this: Rohit Baluja, President at Institute of Road Traffic Education
Road safety is part of traffic management system. Planning of transport in totality for an entire city does not happen in India. Unfortunately, the department's in-charge of planning and designing are not doing this. Transport planning is very important and we haven't invested in this: Rohit Baluja, President at Institute of Road Traffic Education
Meet the Panelists of #RoadToSafetyConclave Session Three: Road Safety Bill - The Salient Features, When Will It Be Passed?
Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, signs the #NeverDrinkAndDrive pledge. Take the pledge,
here. We have a meeting on January 27 to discuss the Amendments to Motor Vehicles Act, if all goes well then I need to take to the Cabinet and then to Lok Sabha and post that it needs to be passed in Rajya Sabha. In a democracy we need to take everyone on-board. We need all the support to get this important Act through as soon as possible: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
We are trying to decongest Delhi's roads by building a road network around the city covering Rajasthan and Punjab that will ensure a lot of the vehicles travelling on inter-state routes don't have to enter the city: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
We need to modernise and computerise our systems with the latest technology. This is something we are trying our best to implement. This will also help end corruption. People will automatically get informed about their violations and the fines to be paid, digitally, reducing interface with officials: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
Increasing penalties is likely to have a positive impact. People will hesitate to violate rules if the penalty is hefty. Without penalties it is tough to get people to take road safety norms seriously: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
We need to identify black spots. We need to improve road design. This is our responsibility: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
Whether it is public or government, I think we are yet to focus on and give road safety the importance it needs: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
We are pushing for Intelligent traffic systems which will enable us to immediately track, real-time, when there is a traffic violation: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
Current Motor Vehicle Act is outdated. We have studied guidelines of other countries. Also this is in the Concurrent list, so we have consulted States to take them on-board for changes to this Act. I am pushing for the Amendments to go through at the earliest:Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
30% of the licenses in India are bogus. It is embarrassing for me to state this as a Minister: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
India's traffic had increased but the road infrastrucutre had not expanded according and was at 96,000 km. We have increased the road infrastructure to 2 lakh kilometres: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways
More people have dies in road accidents than in all the wars we have fought: Nitin Gadkari
Nitin Gadkari interacts with Vikram Chandra and Vishnu Som before his Keynote speech at #RoadToSafetyConclave.
Nitin Gadkari checks in at #RoadToSafetyConclave.
The effects of drinking and then driving should be included in school curriculum. They should be taken to trauma centres to see the graphic consequences of the menace. Sometimes people are not caught and when they are, the effect of alcohol has already worn out. So they cannot be punished. We do not have any system to check whether people are driving the under the influence of drugs. Our footpaths are not properly made: Sanjeev Saxena, RTI Activist, Road Safety
Here's why drinking and driving don't go together.
Drink Driving - the key contributor to road accidents in India.
Breaking the law, especially in Delhi, is considered to be a symbol of power. In Delhi, people believe that even if they get caught breaking the laws, they can use their connections to get out. Parents who encourage underage driving need to realise that it puts their own children at risk too. We need to increase fines for drink driving. Make sure that it pinches the offenders: Satyendra Jain, Delhi Health And Transport Minister
Not following traffic rules is not limited to our youth, it extends to our society. The only reason we follow laws is because we are scared to get caught. We, as a society, need to consider following rules as our social responsibility. We need to change this attitude: Gul Panag, Actor and Entrepreneur
Satyendra Jain, Delhi Health And Transport Minister checks in for the #RoadToSafetyConclave
Coming Soon on #RoadToSafetyConclave: Drink Driving/Drinking In Cars - A Growing Menace In Our Cities
Educate people about the benefits of following the law. Enforcement needs to go in tandem with behavioural change. Fear of law will only take you so far. There needs to an aggressive intervention to raise awareness about road safety: Gul Panag, Actor and Entrepreneur
We need a sustained campaign to inform people that they will not be liable or asked questions if they help in cases of road accidents. The treatment will be done before paperwork. No physician can deny primary treatment - the Good Samaritan law is clear on that. The Court has said a Good Samaritan will be respected by the police, doctors and society. These Good Samaritan guidelines need to be publicized. Noon will be harassed: Dr Amit Gupta, Professor of Trauma Surgery and Critical Care, AIIMS Trauma Center
Need to have a convincing campaign. We are bringing an element of connect back by making people pledge for their loved ones: Navdeep Singh Mehram, Head, Sustainability Of United Spirits Limited
Take the #NeverDrinkAndDrive Pledge
here.
India's road accident fatalities is 10% of global fatalities, which is really high. While in aviation India's safety record is as good as Germany's. This is because of tighter regulation in aviation and its stringent implementation is the key to this difference: Gul Panag, Actor and Entrepreneur
As a culture we don't give priority to safety: Gul Panag, Actor and Entrepreneur
Meet the panelists of Session One: The #RoadToSafety Campaign Journey So Far And The Agenda Of The Campaign
Road To Safety Conclave Session one gets underway.
Session One of the #RoadToSafetyConclave: The Journey So Far And The Agenda Of The Campaign
The main focus of the NDTV-Diageo Road To Safety initiative is to raise awareness about the ills of drink driving.
Take the pledge to #NeverDrinkAndDrive
here. Actor and Entrepreneur, Gul Panag checks in for the #RoadToSafetyConclave.
#RoadToSafetyConclave to begin shortly.
As India celebrates Road Safety Week between January 9 and January 15, NDTV-Diageo Initiative gears up for the #RoadToSafetyConclave.
And the situation is not getting better.
Here's a break-up of road accidents in India.
India has one of the highest number of deaths caused by road accidents, in the world.
