[ 1619 ]
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
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La Gazette de L' État de Poudouchéry
The Gazette of Puducherry
PART - II
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No. 79 Poudouchéry Mardi
24
Octobre
2023
No.
Puducherry Tuesday
24th
October
2023
(2 Kartika 1945)
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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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[PART–II
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
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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,
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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.