MP Launches ‘Vision Zero Madhya Pradesh’ Campaign to Curb Road Fatalities
BHOPAL / Madhya Pradesh Government on Wednesday launched the ‘Vision Zero Madhya Pradesh’ campaign with an aim to bring down road crash fatalities to ensure safer roads across the State.
MP Minister for Transport and Revenue, Govind Singh Rajput virtually inaugurated this initiative in a function held in Gwalior city of the state wherein the headquarters of the department is.
Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. It started in Sweden in October 1997. In 2014, deciding a Public Interest Litigation filed by S Rajaseekaran, the Supreme Court directed the Centre, States and Union Territories to come forward to reduce the road accidents in India. The Apex Court also said that a road safety committee should be formed under the supervision of the court and a retired SC’s justice shall chair the panel.
Initiating the campaign, Transport Minister, Rajput said that by following road safety norms and traffic rules, road fatalities could not only be reduced but also be saved the lives of the youths. Rajput appealed to the non-government and social organizations and the various departments of the government such as education, police, health and transport to come forward together to save the people’s lives by promoting the ‘Vision Zero Madhya Pradesh’ drive.
Chairman of the Road Safety Committee constituted by the Supreme Court and its retired justice Abhay Mohan Sapre also addressed the inaugural ceremony virtually. He said that the initiative of launching the Vision Zero Madhya Pradesh would not only reduce the road accidents within the state but the other state governments would also be got motivation for starting this campaign.
Addressing the gathering, Transport Commissioner Mukesh Jain explained the principle of the ‘Vision Zero’ campaign “The concept of this drive is that no death is acceptable in road accidents. And these mishaps can only be stopped with joint efforts,” Jain said.
At the beginning of the event, Additional Transport Commissioner Enforcement Arvind Saxena described the ‘Vision Zero’ campaign and its history, he explained it through three Es, Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency Care. “To reduce the fatalities in the road accidents, the enforcement activities of the transport department and police should be ensured up to tehsil-level along with the health facility of primary medical aids on the state and national highways side,” Saxena emphasized.
As per the Road Accident Report for 2019, a total number of 449,002 accidents took place in India during the calendar year 2019 leading to 151,113 deaths and 451,361injuries.
According to a recent report of the Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways, 43 per cent of fatalities out of total deaths in the country have happened in road accidents. In every three minutes, death is taken place in road accidents in the country.
Following the Covid-19 norms, the doctors, students, NCC cadets, engineers, police personnel and officers and media persons were taken part in the event.
The additional chief secretary of the transport department, S N Mishra, collector of Gwalior Koushlendra Vikram Singh, SP Gwalior Amit Sanghi and Joint Commissioner Transport Anup Singh also addressed the gathering.
It was also observed that road safety is a multifactor problem, encompassing vehicle conditions, road user behaviour and road environment. So, the theme of ‘Vision Zero Madhya Pradesh’ is towards zero traffic deaths which would focus on policies, best practices and institutional mechanisms for adopting safer road design and engineering for the state.
