Bengaluru: Holding civic bodies responsible for the increase in the number of deaths caused by road accidents mainly due to the pathetic road conditions in the city Commissioner, Road Safety and Traffic, D. Roopa, has suggested that authorities concerned should be held accountable and made criminally liable.
The officer, in a letter written to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha has recommended few changes to the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, which will table its report on the first day of the Winter Session. The Bill, recently passed in the Lok Sabha, is yet to be approved in the Rajya Sabha.
Pointing out that in most accidental road deaths, especially involving two-wheeler riders were arising primarily due to potholes and unscientific speed-breakers and not due to negligent driving, Roopa suggested that the road construction authorities -NHAI, PWD or the civic body should face punishment for their negligence.
Bengaluru,which has been reeling under civic-related woes has also had to face torrential rains since few days which has just worsened the already bad conditions of the roads here.
The commissioner also suggested amending Section 50 of the Motor Vehicles Bill to make it mandatory for buyers and sellers of used vehicles to appear before the jurisdictional RTO and get the ownership transferred. “In most cases, the transfer of vehicles to the buyer is happening only on paper and never submitted to the RTO concerned for the transfer of ownership. Many of the notices generated against the offending vehicles are reaching the previous owners and in case of accidents it is becoming difficult to fix the ownership,” she said.
Besides this she also suggested that the availability of parking space within a house compound should be made the criterion for vehicle registration, mainly four-wheelers. In the absence of adquate parking space, owners often park vehicles on roads adding to traffic congestion woes in the city.
