Maharashtra plans to reduce road fatalities by 50 per cent before Union govt’s 2030 deadline | Mumbai News – Times of India

MUMBAI: State transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar said that the state plans to reduce fatalities by 50% much before the Centre’s deadline of 2030. He announced that the motor vehicle department in Maharashtra was now conferred with the SKOCH award for ‘Multi-sectoral road safety improvement strategy’.
The award has been conferred in recognition of the road safety measures undertaken in the past year. It involved a series of measures taken for road safety and reducing fatalities on important state highways this year.
“We conducted several road safety campaigns, sensitised thousands of drivers speeding on highways and expressways and this led to a reduction in crashes and fatalities,” he said, adding that it was a result-oriented counselling approach as against revenue-oriented enforcement approach.
“Instead of imposing fines, we initially counselled those caught on the Mumbai-Pune old highway and Pune Expressway, and also on Samruddhi Mahamarg, and made them sign a pledge that they will not repeat the offence. They were made to sit and watch road safety videos and the dangerous consequences of speeding which can lead to fatalities — and destroy several families,” he pointed out. The vigilance for reducing crashes on Mumbai-Pune and Samruddhi Mahamarg continues with 24×7 monitoring, said deputy transport commissioner (road safety) Bharat Kalaskar.
The government has now resolved to spend a minimum 1% of district planning funds on road safety — which will be Rs 100 crore. A total of 263 hi-tech interceptor vehicles among the largest fleet in India are now deployed on the highways across the state, he said.
The transport department is in the process of implementing the ITMS (Intelligent Traffic Management System) on over 2,000km of roads in Maharashtra, wherein it will introduce an automated number plate recognition system, red light violation detection and speed violation detection systems, Bhimanwar said.
Sources said that as part of road safety measures, the state government also plans to upgrade public health centres near and around highways to emergency trauma care centres. It will also develop an SOP for emergency response through mapping of trauma care centres and hospitals along the route so that the lives of victims of road crashes can be saved during the initial golden hour, a senior government official added.