Challenges of driving through Indian road- Innovative thinking must for roads of future
As the country is marching ahead in many fields so is our
road infrastructure picking up and is one of the main driving forces of our
economy now. Due to the proactive policies the infrastructure of roads has
picked up faster than other sectors of the economy during last 15 years. The
stagnation in the road sector is being dealt with in priority by the present
regime. The vision of the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of
constructing the Golden quadrangles and the decision to allow foreign investments
in automobile technology in India has given a real boost to not only to the
passenger car and other automobile
sector but to the overall economy of the country as well. In order to
meet the future challenges, the leaders and planners of the country must assess
the emerging situation with regards to the actual necessity of the road
infrastructure and its quality vis-a-vis the growth of the auto sector and
traffic on the roads. Let us accept the fact that notwithstanding the positive
achievements made during the last few decades, the ground situation is not very
encouraging considering the quality of our roads and the number of lives lost
in road accidents.
India has a road network of over 5,472,144 kilometers as on
31 March 2015the second largest road network in the world after USA. India is
also home to Fifty-three National highways which carry about 40 percent of the
total road traffic.Although the figures look pretty impressive but the
underlying fact is that 25 percent of villages in India still having poor road
links and from the poor quality construction a large number of these roads are
very poorly maintained and exists only for the name sake.The road network in India thus is
inadequate considering the number of passengers and volume of growing traffic.Among
the rising vehicles on road the 2 wheelers occupy the prime position. The 2
wheelers constitute 80% of the market share and isannually growing at the rate
of 9.48 % according to the report of India Brand Equity Foundation released in
2017. In order to keep up with the demand, several auto makers have started
investing in various segments of the industry during the last few months. The
industry has also attracted the foreign direct investment worth 15.9 billion US
Dollar during the period from April 2000 to September 2016 as per the figures
of department of industrial policy and promotion.
Today if one drives through the national highways and state
highways it is a common feature to see a large volume of motor bikes and other
two wheelers chocking the high way traffic on roads. The ratio of two wheelers
on the roads is almost 60 to 70 % and the situation in two lane highways is so irritatingly
bad that it is difficult to maintain a constant speed of even 40 km per hour.
It is happening because of the phenomenon growth of the two wheelers especially
with the growing economy of rural people as most of the 2 wheelers neither know
the rules of the traffic in rural areas bothered for the traffic rules and are not
keen to ensure their own safety The bike revolution is taking over highways all
over. Take for example the growth of auto. sector’s different components.According
to the report of Automobile mission Plan 2006-2016 during this period all
vehicle segmentsregistered a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in excess of
10% and accounts for 27% of the industrial GDP. This massive growth in vehicles
on roads is not at all commensurate with the quality, widthand safety standards
of our roads of Indian roads. The 5 lakh annually reported road accidents in India
take the lives of 147,000 people and every 4th minutes there is a
death on Indian roads.This figure is three times more than the murders
committed annually in the country. There is a saying “to err is human and too many human means too many errs” and the
rate of increasing road accidents is thus not a surprise.
The Ministry of Road transport and highways must therefore,
pay serious attention to safe driving and on quality of construction and
maintenance of our road keeping special focus on movement of 2 wheelers and
other automobiles on Indian roads. We
need to devise location and our country specific road construction codes. The
width of a two lane highway may be correct for American and western standards
considering their passenger numbers and traffic but same cannot be applicable
as of international standards in Indian conditions. Realizing the importance of
road infrastructure and accepting that prosperity is now touching our rural
hinterlands as the bike revolution shows the country must have a well-planned
strategy to ensure faster and safer movements of traffic in our highways and
arterial district roads. First need to be done is to have a national task force
on road infrastructure. This task force
should be mandated to prepare a road map consisting of designing the architect
of the road for different geographic locations, road widths according to
traffic volume and lanes and quality of construction in a comprehensive manner
for all kind of roads right up to the district level. Indian roads suffer
from bad riding quality, poor geometrics, poor drainage and insufficient
pavement thickness. The task force must devise norms for and the government
must take a decision of having separate barricaded space for the movement of 2
wheelers and pedestrians etc in a particular zone so that the irritants in
traffic flows are minimized; provisions for speed governors for heavy transport
vehicles and in some situations for all kind of vehicles. Though the government
had amended the Motor Vehicle Act and the penalties and fines have been
increased manifold for the wrong and dangerous driving the rules so farmed will
not bear fruit unless other steps to improve the road infrastructure and road
safety are not taken up. The bullock carts and other such makeshift vehicles
must be totally banned from the National Highways. The highway police
infrastructure should be upgraded with more manpower and mobility and to
enforce rules. But much more than this the traffic sense among the masses and
discipline in roads cannot come unless proper awareness is generated and prompt
action taken against the violators. The challenge to make the roads of
tomorrow’s in India is the challenge to make tomorrows India. (1087 words).
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