The Union ministry of roads transport & highways (MoRTH) is planning to introduce cashless medical treatment for all injured accident victims across the country within the next three to four months, says Anurag Jain, secretary of MoRTH. He was speaking at the global road safety initiative organised by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) in partnership with the ministry.
He says, "The free and cashless medical treatment to accident-injured victims is part of the amended Motor Vehicle Act 2019 (MVA2019). Some states have implemented it, but now the Ministry, in league with the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW), will fully implement it across the nation. It is envisioned to provide access to cashless trauma care treatment for road accident victims at the nearest appropriate hospital in the country, in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling, and by drawing its power from the Motor Vehicle(Amendment) Act 2019 (MV Amendment Act). Such cashless treatment shall be extended to road accident victims, including during golden hour, as defined by the MV Amendment Act,"
According to Mr Jain, India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world. In a bid to reduce accidents by 50% by the year 2030, MoRTH formulated a multi-pronged strategy based check only 4 Es are mentioned; correct accordingly address the issue of road safety based on education, engineering, (both of roads and vehicles), enforcement and emergency care.
"As part of road engineering, road safety has been made an integral part of road design at the planning stage. The electronic detailed accident report (e-DAR) project has been initiated to establish a central repository for reporting, management and analysis of road accident data across the country and rectify the engineering faults within a month or two," he added.
For education and awareness about road safety, the MoRTH secretary says the Union ministry of education has agreed to include road safety as part of the curriculum for schools and colleges to be implemented soon. For vehicular engineering, he says, several steps have been taken, including an anti-lock braking system (ABS), two-wheelers over speed warning system, seat belt reminders and the introduction of Bharat new car assessment program (NCAP).
"Enforcement is a real-time key to ensuring motor vehicle laws are followed, including wearing a helmet, seatbelts, lane driving, and jumping a red light," Mr Jain says.
As many as 736,129 people lost their lives in road accidents between 2017 and 2021, mainly due to over-speeding, use of mobile phones and drunken driving.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of road transport and highways, says, "As per the yearly analysis of road accident data, based on the first information report (FIR) data received from various states and Union territories (UTs), road accident deaths occur due to multiple causes such as over speeding, use of mobile phone, drunken driving or consumption of alcohol and drug, driving on the wrong side or lane indiscipline, jumping a red light, non-use of safety devices such as helmets and seatbelts, vehicular condition, weather condition, road condition, fault of driver, cyclist and pedestrian."
Data provided by the minister shows that, in three out of the five years till 2021, the number of people who died in road accidents remained at over 15.1K (thousand). Only in 2020, the COVID pandemic year, when the lock-down was in place, the figure remained low at 131,714.
The government has also implemented a scheme for granting an award to a Good Samaritan who has saved the life of a victim of a fatal accident involving a motor vehicle, by administering immediate assistance and rushing to the hospital or trauma care centre within the golden hour of the accident to provide medical treatment, Mr Gadkari says.
