Registered No.
PY/44/2021-23
Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No. 10410 Amflºƒˆ \VWÈ ∂´E>µ
La Gazette de L' État de Poudouchéry
The Gazette of Puducherry
PART - II
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®ı Amflºƒˆ ÿƒÀkVF¬˛wÁ\ 2023 } ∂¬º¶V✓Ï | 24 { No. 79 Poudouchéry Mardi 2 4 Octobre 2023
No. Puducherry Tuesday 24th October 2023
(2 Kartika 1945)
GOVERNMENT OF PUDUCHERRY
TRANSPORT SECRETARIAT
(G.O. MS. NO. 07/Tr.Sectt./2023, Puducherry, dated 19th October 2023)
NOTIFICATION
Whereas, taking into consideration, the directions of Supreme
Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) and the subsequent field study of the Audit Team, appointed by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, and also taking into account of direction of the Government of India, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, New Delhi, that every State/Union Territory Government to prepare and revise it
[ 1619 ] 1620 LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT [PART–II
periodically the State Level Road Safety Policy and Action Plans in a multipronged approach and in supersession of G.O. Ms. No. 27/Tr.Sectt./ 2015, dated 28-12-2015 notifying the Road Safety Policy and Action Plan for the Union territory of Puducherry, this notification is issued
with an aim to reduce 10% of fatalities every year from 2023 to 2028 and achieve 50% reduction in the year 2028 when compared to 2022 and to move forward in achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda 2030 which strives to achieve Zero Fatalities on road by 2030.
And whereas, the Lead Agency with the involvement of Line
Departments has suitably revised the Road Safety Policy and Action Plan for the Union territory of Puducherry prepared vide G.O. Ms. No. 27/Tr.Sectt./2015, dated 28-12-2015 notifying the Road Safety Policy and Action Plan for the Union territory of Puducherry.
Now, therefore, the Lieutenant-Governor, Puducherry, is hereby pleased to approve the revised Road Safety Policy and Action Plan
2023-2028 for the Union territory of Puducherry as appended to this notification. As per the Policy statement, the Line Departments shall prepare an action plan for improving road safety in a time bound manner with annual targets and commensurate allocation of resources in coordination with Lead Agency.
The fund realized vide G.O. Ms. No. 16/Tr.Sectt./2015, dated
20-08-2015 of the Transport Secretariat, Government of Puducherry, notifying Road Safety Fund Rules for the Union territory of Puducherry and G.O. Ms. No. 02/Tr.Sectt./2021, dated 28-01-2021 of the Transport Secretariat, Government of Puducherry, notifying Compounding of Offences under Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 along with budgetary provisions shall be utilized in improving the road safety
measures in the Union territory of Puducherry.
(By order of the Lieutenant-Governor)
UNDER SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT (TRANSPORT).
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ROAD SAFETY POLICY AND ACTION PLAN 2023-2028
1. Preamble: Puducherry, a Union Territory with Legislature,
comprises of four regions namely, Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and
Yanam lying geographically separated from one another with an area of
493 sq.kms. Owing to its historic background and better development
index is witnessing growing urbanization. As per 2011 census, the
population of Union territory of Puducherry is 12.48 Lakhs with
68.31% living in urban area. The past two decades has witnessed
accelerated urbanization, increased urban sprawl, vehicle ownership,
traffic volume which has resulted in congestion, delays, rise in
accidents and pollution levels, etc., which poses potential threat to
the economic vitality and productive efficiency of the Society. There
are 13,39,505 registered vehicles in Puducherry (as on 31st August,
2023). The rate of death due to road accident in Puducherry per lakh
population is 8.7 pertaining to the year 2021-22 as per the data of
Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations. It is one of the
highest in the country amongst other States and Union Territories.
Based on the agenda 2030 of United Nations under the Goal 3
"Good Health and well being" safe transportation is one of the main
indicators which emphasizes accident free roads and to achieve the
goals of Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. Adhering
to the above goals of Sustainable Development Goals, the
Government of Puducherry has considered it relevant to revise the
State Policy on Road Safety published vide G.O. Ms. No. 27/Tr.Sectt./
2015, dated 28-12-2015. The revised Policy covers both preventive
and post-accident aspects of Road Safety encompassing initiatives
of public policy as well as implementable action agenda.
A Puducherry Road Safety Policy and Action Plan is a critical
initiative in the effort to improve road safety issues to a position of
high priority on the State agenda. The Policy and Action Plan
provides the basis for working toward attaining the vision of
"accident free" Puducherry by promoting safe mobility for all. It
creates a framework for relevant Governmental Departments and
Agencies towards the rational use of scarce resources and reducing
duplication of effort in fulfilling the set vision.
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2. Vision: The vision for Puducherry is to have accident free and safe mobility for all. The Policy will pave way to embrace and incorporate the Legislative, enforcement, financial, physical and socio-economic structures required to achieve the set vision in accordance with internationally accepted standards so that all concerned actors in society will work in harmony by cooperating and sharing knowledge, expertise and resources to reduce road accidents.
3. Goals: Efficient road safety work requires the setting of the clear objectives and reviewing the same periodically. In order to ensure the overall objective of a safe, equitable, sustainable and efficient transportation system, the Government of Puducherry through this Policy and Action Plan statements proposes to achieve the following road safety goals:
(i) Reduce the occurrence and severity of road accidents and consequently the level of fatalities and injuries by implementing derived measures based on the inputs from the road accident database in an efficient and professional manner using the advantage of IT based solutions available at present.
(ii) Reduce road accidents by at least 10% over the next five
years (by 2028) and to maintain zero growth level further.
(iii) Improve road user's safety and road user's behavior through awareness, automated device based driving skill test and enforcement using advanced technologies.
(iv) Efficient post accident scenario management including better trauma care to save the human life and integrating social security (Insurance Policies) to the accident victims.
4. Problem Statement: Road safety continues to be a major developmental issue, a public health concern and a leading cause of death and injury across the world. At least one out of 10 people killed on roads across the world is from India, according to the World Health Organization. During the year 2021, a total number of 4,12,432 road accidents have been reported in the Country, claiming 1,53,972 lives causing injuries to 3,84,448 persons. It is pertinent to mention that the most affected age groups in road accidents is 18-45 years which accounts for 67% of total accidental deaths.
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The social costs of accidents have been valued between 2 to 3 percent of the GDP every year. With the above rate, India is losing more than ` 1 lakh crore a year because of road accidents besides social costs such as loss of human life and trauma.
The number of accidents since 2017 and up to 2021 have shown declining trend with 1693 in 2017, 1597 in 2018, 1392 in 2019, 969 in 2020 and 1049 in 2021. Despite the decreasing trend in number of accident cases the fatality rate per lakh population stands at high with 8.7 deaths per lakh population. This is one of the highest in the Country. This necessitates for a suitable Road Safety Policy and to devise appropriate Action Plan to reduce the accidents and fatalities.
5. The Policy: Road safety is a diverse field that requires strong association and partnership both within agencies and with outside organizations in order to facilitate an integrated and coherent approach to policy formulation and implementation.
Road safety is to be considered as a shared responsibility and not as responsibility of any Single agency or the Nodal Agency. The responsibility is to be shared between Government Departments, Citizens, Media, Industry, Professionals and related NGO's.
The Puducherry Road Safety Policy and Action Plan is formulated in accordance with the six "E's" strategy for the reduction/prevention of accidents devised in the National Road Safety Policy Guidelines such as:
(a) Education
(b) Enforcement
(c) Engineering (roads and related infrastructure)
(d) Engineering (safer vehicles)
(e) Emergency care and
(f) Enactment and strengthening of institutional mechanism
The Policy has been outlined in the following implementable Action
Points:
6. Education: In order to achieve significant improvement in Road Safety, the Government of Puducherry will strive to carry forward the efforts taken already using advanced technologies to promote higher level of awareness for a wider section of the public including school 1624 LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT [PART–II
children, college students and road users. It will facilitate various stakeholders of State for planning and promoting Road Safety. As awareness among citizens will enable them to treat it as important State problem, the following Action Plans are proposed:
(i) The Nodal Agency along with Enforcement Agencies will take up Awareness Campaigns through Print and Electronic Media and make use of the social networking sites and advertising at social places. Public education campaigns will be undertaken on a sustained basis and there shall be continuous efforts by making use of all available technologies to reach out to general public.
(ii) Special emphasis will be placed in imparting teachers' training so as to enable them to inculcate road safety aspects in the minds of school children adhering to the curriculum provided in the syllabus.
(iii) Emphasis will be given to impart skills to identified volunteers and youth in the villages along National Highways and State Highways in saving human lives during golden hour.
(iv) Driver education and testing (which leads to certification) will expose learner Drivers to the Principles of Road Safety such as the roles of speed, alcohol and drugs in accidents; the value of safety device use; road rage managing skills; night driving; the importance of route planning and time scheduling.
(v) Driver education in terms of refresher training to heavy vehicle Drivers and School bus Drivers will be provided through institutions for Driver training with a system of training, certification and recertification of Drivers and certification of driving Instructors to improve efficiency in driving skill so as to reduce the accidents.
(vi) In line with National Road Safety Month, the road safety events like community educative programmes and media sensitive workshops such as rallies, street plays, puppet shows and etc., will be organized.
7. Enforcement: Government will seek to improve the quality of traffic enforcement and respond positively to Union Governments initiative. Adequate resources will be provided and mechanisms strengthened for the effective enforcement of traffic rules and regulations.
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The following Action Plans are proposed:
(i) There shall be zero tolerance applied in relation to traffic
violations.
(ii) More Law Enforcement Officials and Traffic Wardens will be engaged to enforce traffic rules and regulations and will be provided with all necessary equipments to check violations.
(iii) Stringent Driver Licence Procedures (testing the competency) and Stringent Fitness Certificate Procedures of vehicles (Road worthiness test of vehicles) will be adhered using automated driving and vehicle testing.
(iv) Strict enforcement on violations of speed limits, red light jumping, use of mobile phones while driving, drunken driving, dangerously parked vehicles along highways overloaded commercial/ passenger vehicles, carrying passengers in goods vehicles, dangerous projections and etc., will be carried out and prosecuted as per the Guidelines of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.
(v) ISI Certified helmets for Drivers and co-passengers in two wheelers and Seatbelt for Drivers and co-passengers in four wheelers will be made mandatory.
(vi) GPS/GIS Based intelligent Transport system combined with control centre will be effectively utilized to ensure passenger safety with quick response system, proper monitoring of traffic and to capture data on traffic offences to prosecute and prevent traffic offences.
8. Engineering (roads and related infrastructure): Greater emphasis will be given to provide safe roads and related infrastructure in Puducherry. This will be ensured through road safety audits, identification of black spots and vulnerable stretches and carrying out necessary corrective measures. Identification of locations with a high incidence of accidents will be mapped and corrective measures undertaken to reduce conflicts in moving traffic. The Government will adopt the following accident reduction strategies in providing safe road infrastructure:
(i) By conducting necessary Road Safety Audits (RSA) in various stages including during design, construction, preopening and operation and maintenance and also by ensuring road safety audit completion meetings at each stage.
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(ii) As per the protocol defined, the Black Spots on all major roads will be identified and action plan will be devised for eliminating the Black Spots by providing proper transition from higher order to lower order roads, by providing proper pedestrian cross overs and by providing speed calming measures. Roads will be designed, constructed upgraded and made consistent with code of practice and Indian Road Congress standards. Crash barriers will be provided at high embankments and acute curves in National, State highways, MDRs and bridges as per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards. All State/National Highways will carry pavement markings and road signs as per IRC standards.
(iii) The integrity of the right of way for Road will be maintained and shall be kept free of obstacles. Roads and sidewalks will be kept free of hawkers, derelict vehicles, unauthorized vehicles, debris and obstacles. Hawkers shall be shifted to designated hawking zones as identified in the Comprehensive Development Plan.
(iv) The capacity requirements of all roads will be reviewed on regular basis and adequate provision for all categories of road users such as Motor Vehicle, non-motorized traffic and pedestrians will be upgraded accordingly in keeping with the approved Comprehensive Development Plans and Mobility plans prepared.
(v) Road side facilities will be provided and upgraded to give added protection to vulnerable road users such as disabled, aged and children. Continuous footpaths with adequate width, pavement heights and ramps will be provided.
(vi) Adequate guidance and information to road users will be provided and maintained through road signs, signals and markings along all the roads in Puducherry.
(vii) All roads in the Union territory of Puducherry will be provided with lighting facilities fulfilling Lux levels of International standards.
(viii) All the Railway crossings in Puducherry will be provided with manned Railway gates, Railway-Over-Bridge (ROBs) and Railway- Under-Bridge (RUBs) depending upon the peak PCUs and train crossings.
(ix) By conducting proper traffic studies, the public transport route network will be rationalized and priority for public transport system will be provided with necessary bus bays and bus shelters.
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9. Engineering (Safer Vehicles): The Government will take steps to promote statutory periodic inspection as an essential check on the road - worthiness of all vehicles. Government will take stringent measures to air quality emissions from vehicles. The Government of Puducherry will emphasize the following:
(i) Institutions for Inspection and Certification of vehicles which will ensure safer vehicles and adhering to pollution norms. The auditing of Vehicle Inspection Centres will be implemented and it will be ensured that the vehicles plying on the road confirm to roadworthiness and Bharat Standards.
(ii) Establishment of Vehicle Scrapping facilities and encouraging the public to scrap the older and unsafe vehicles as per the Guidelines of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
(iii) Constant monitoring of fitment of GPS and speed governing devices and their functioning will be ensured through Monitoring Centre and enforcement on road respectively.
(iv) It will be ensured that proper night reflective tapes are provided in all vehicle categories including non-motorized vehicles. Under protection devices in trucks and buses, proper installation of mirrors, shutters, spray suppression systems and other facilities required as per Statutory Provisions will be ensured.
10. Emergency care: The Government of Puducherry will make its earnest effort to ensure that the persons involved in road accidents benefit from speedy and effective trauma care and health management. The essential functions of such services will include the provisions of rescue operation including premedical care, First aid at site of accident, transportation of victim to appropriate hospital within the safe Golden Hour. In order to ensure medical care to accident victims within minimum response time say 20 to 30 minutes, the following Action Plans are proposed:
(i) A Framework for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) System with the aim of providing effective and economical emergency care will be developed so as to maintain uniformity and continuity across the State. This framework will specify the broad specifications, Guidelines and protocols for the various components of EMS System, 1628 LA GAZETTE DE L'ETAT [PART–II
viz. Ambulances, Trauma Centres, Emergency Departments, Emergency Medical Technicians, Communication, Dispatch Centres, Command and Control Posts, etc.
(ii) Efficient Towing and Recovery of Accident vehicles will be
implemented so as to reduce traffic congestion due to accidents.
(iii) A periodic audit for the already supplied Ambulances and Cranes will be done with respect to their location, availability, utilization, efficacy, manpower, uptime, etc.
(iv) The Ambulances will be equipped with all emergency lifesaving equipment's and CCTV's to interact with the Doctors while the seriously injured person is in transit to the hospital.
(v) A single toll-free helpline system established will be effectively be used in order to effect seamless networking amongst health facilities, rescue services, existing fleet of ambulances, etc.
(vi) Regular training in first aid to the people who are near the highways, heavy motor vehicle Drivers and Conductors will be carried out to build Good Samaritans to save the lives and limbs of accident victims.
(vii) There shall be a comprehensive State Plan for trauma care in place and state-of-art of trauma care facilities at State and District level will be established in order to ensure every accident victim will get proper emergency care.
(viii) The integrated software i.e. Integrated Road Accident Database iRAD and electronic Detailed Accident Reports (e-DAR) will be used effectively to interlink the ambulance Drivers, Police and hospitals for quick response to attend the accident victims. The interlinking will also be used to link the level of trauma care facility hospitals (L1, L2 and L3) to treat the accident victims according to the gravity of injuries and also to claim the insurance coverage.
(ix) The Government General Hospitals in Puducherry and Karaikal and Government Medical College in Puducherry will be provided with adequate medical equipments and resource persons to upgrade trauma care facilities as per the template specifications of Directorate- General of Health Services (Dte.GHS) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
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(x) Capacity building of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT)
and Doctor's with requisite skills in emergency response services will be developed.
(xi) Standardized Prehospital Trauma Technical Curriculum as developed by the Dte. of GHS/MoHFW for training of Prehospital Trauma Technicians (PTT) will be introduced in all Government and Private Medical and Nursing Institutions.
11. Enactment (Strengthening of Institutional Mechanism): The Government will take necessary action to strengthen the institutional arrangement with adequate trained staff to coordinate among the stake holding Departments. The Road Safety Fund created out of compounding of offences will be effectively used to provide materials, equipments and other facilities to stake holding Departments so as to
meet the expenditures towards road safety.
(i) The pyramid type structure of agencies established to deal with road safety aspects, viz., field reporting for proper inputs from the stake holding Departments, District Level Committees to fix the targets for reduction of road accidents and at State level Committee for allocation of funds for the proposals from the District Level Committees and State
Level Council for Policy making will act at their respective level in order to improve the road safety in all aspects.
(ii) The lead agency will fix the road accident fatality reduction target for the state level based on the inputs derived from the District and Regional Level Committees.
(iii) The lead agency will also conduct independent meetings
with the line Departments in order to assess the ground level situation for devising appropriate remedial measures and advising to the District Committees.
(iv) The lead agency will review the efficiency of accident
analysis done by the Committee established for the purpose.
(v) The lead agency will appoint appropriate expert consultants
on road safety in order to provide comprehensive road safety consultancy for the State.
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(vi) The lead agency will ensure the publishing of annual state
level accident data in public domain.
(vii) The lead agency will organize periodic workshops on Road Safety and ensure capacity building of officials from the Stakeholding Departments such as Education Department, Health Department, Local Administration Department, Police Department, Public Works Department, Revenue Department, Town and Country Planning
Department, Transport Department, etc.
12. Conclusion : The Line Departments such as Education Department, Health Department, Local Administration Department, Police Department, Public Works Department, Revenue Department, Town and Country Planning Department, Transport Department and etc., will prepare Action Plans based on this Policy statement and with the co-ordination of Lead Agency will implement the Action Plans so as to reduce the incidence of road accidents from the present trend by 10 % every year for the next five years (2028) and to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda 2030 of United Nations.
The District/Regional/High Level Road Safety Committees and the State Road Safety Council will periodically monitor and evaluate the status of Road Safety in the Union territory of Puducherry.
The Road Safety Policy and Action Plans will be reviewed
periodically once in Three Years and Goals will be reset.
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online publication at "https://styandptg.py.gov.in" Published by The Director, Government Press, Puducherry.