Amid rising road accidents in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday directed the concerned department to immediately remove the black spots that cause road accidents and said that the district collector and the superintendent of police should coordinate.
He announced that the modern vehicle testing centres and for vehicle license, automatic vehicle testing lanes will be set up at 23 places in the state.
Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis today reviewed road safety and discussed a slew of measures to curb accidents. Fadnavis instructed that the world’s smart traffic safety system should be set up on the 701 km Nagpur Mumbai Samruddhi Marg.
Shinde said that the number of deaths in road accidents is high in the state. ‘’Black spots have been identified on roads where accidents occur frequently. They should be removed immediately. The concerned departments should take immediate action to remove these blackspots,’’ he said, adding that road safety awareness should be created in schools and colleges through courses. He suggested that use of helmets should be enforced effectively and driving training institutes should be further strengthened.
There are 1004 black spots in the state and about 72 per cent of the accidents are due to overspeeding. The accident rate in places where black spots are declared is 53 per cent. Penal action has been taken against around 6 crore people in the state for violating traffic rules.
The government is implementing the Mrityunjay Doots Project for accident control and relief and 5351 Mrityunjay Doots have been appointed across the state.
Shinde instructed that the road safety and trauma care centers in the district should be reviewed from time to time. He asked the administration for the removal of unnecessary road dividers on the highways.
Vehicle license of those who repeatedly violate traffic rules should be suspended - Deputy Chief Minister
Fadnavis instructed that the vehicle license of those who have faced penal action 5 to 6 times for violation of traffic rules should be suspended for a few days. A team should be appointed to take action against drivers who change lanes quickly (lane jump) on the expressway. The team will keep an eye on the reckless drivers and initiate punitive action against them. He added that such a campaign should be implemented immediately on the Mumbai-Pune expressway.
