Nano likely to worsen the traffic problem

The much-acclaimed low-cost car Nano, which recently hit the roads, could worsen road traffic by adding to the growth of private vehicles in the coming days, a Delhi High Court Judge said."All Indian cities are already struggling with traffic flow problem due to various types of vehicles on the road, lack of need-based road and traffic design and engineering and the unchecked growth of private vehicles and with the entry of the new cheap car Nano on the road, the situation is likely to get worsen," Justice Kailash Gambir said.

The Court made the remarks while delivering its verdict in the BMW hit-and-run case involving Sanjeev Nanda in which his sentence was reduced to two years from five years for mowing down six persons 10 years ago.

The Court also pulled up the Centre for its "apathy" towards public safety on roads and made a slew of recommendations for road safety."There are no stop signs, no speed limits and as heavy vehicles go zig-zak on the roads, it is hard to ignore the disturbing reality that many commercial and private drivers are drunk and no one checks them," the court said.

While referring to a report, the court pointed out that India road mishaps account for ten percent of the toll, which is three times higher than that prevailing in developed countries despite having less that one percent of the world vehicle population."The statistics clearly denote that government has not taken road safety very seriously so far and does not have a comprehensive policy on road safety. Public safety is the last in the list of the priorities of the governmenmt," the court said.

It said road accidents cause an annual loss of Rs 55,000 crore to the country, which is three percent of GDP."Slayer BRT corridors, Killer blueline buses and slaughterer Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and very recently unfortunately Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, for which every citizen is most proud of, has joined the list of state apathy towards the citizens," the court said.The court passed a slew recommendations to the government to ensure proper road safety which included installation of CCTVs cameras on major roads.

It said there should be proper and strict implementation of laws for minimum age of consumption of liquor and proper light on the streets and better maintenance of roads to reduce accidents on roads.The court also said there was a need for introspection for the judicial system so that the justice delivery system was not interrupted by people with doubtful integrity.
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