Centre mulling over establishing National Road Safety Board; integrated accident database to be extended to all States

An Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD) will now be rolled out across the country, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Thursday, adding that it is also under the process of establishing the National Road Safety Board.

IRAD has already been rolled out for live data entry in fourteen states including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha, Mizoram, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Goa and Kerala. This will be now extended to all states.

The National Road Safety Board shall be responsible for advising the Centre and the States on promoting road safety, innovation and adoption of new technology and for regulating traffic and motor vehicles.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the executing agencies for the construction of roads mainly follow Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards/codes including the Ministry's guidelines, which are periodically revised to keep them updated in line with international standards.

The Ministry said Road accidents occur due to multiple causes such as over speeding, use of mobile phones, drunken driving, consumption of drugs, overloaded vehicle, vehicular condition, poor light condition, jumping red light, overtaking, neglect of civic bodies, weather conditions, fault of the driver, driving on the wrong side, defect in road condition, defect in condition of motor vehicle, fault of the cyclist, fault of pedestrian etc.

However, no separate data or record is maintained for accidents occurring due to road engineering, stated the Ministry's statement.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday that 4,775 road accidents occurred due to potholes in 2019. In 2020, the figure was 3,564.

(ANI)