Road safety legislation

 ROAD SAFETY LEGISLATION

• The existing Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, an imperial legislation, proved to be inadequate in addressing the systemic challenges plaguing the road transport sector and has failed to ensure road safety for the people of India. Hence, the Supreme Court of India in August 2013 called the problem of road crashes in India a National Emergency.
• Road traffic in India currently operates within the legal framework established in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.  
• The sudden demise of Mr. Gopinath Munde, Union Minister for Rural Development, in a road crash in New Delhi on June 3, 2014 prompted the then newly elected government into promising new legislation with strong provisions for road safety, which would repeal the inadequate law currently in existence. 
• Following a major campaign led by SaveLIFE Foundation (SLF) including written appeals from Members of Parliament to the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, the Government of India introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016 in the Parliament on August 9, 2016, to address the issue of road safety in India.
• The SLF's ten point policy solution focuses on:
1. Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) and Non Motorised Transport (NMT)
2. Protection of children during commute
3. Robust and Scientific Accident Investigation and Data Management
4. Stringent punishment for faulty road design and engineering
5. Transparent, centralised and efficient driver licensing system
6. Mandatory driver training
7. Strict regulation of Heavy Motor Vehicles
8. Stringent punishment for drunk-driving and overspeeding
9. Stringent punishment for violation of helmet and seat-belt laws
10. National Lead Agency

The following are the difference between the old motor vehicle act (1988) and the latest motor vehicle act (2019):

NB: Old act refers to Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and New act refers to Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019

1. While the old act had no provision for the safety of pedestrians and non-motorised road users, the new act gives power to state governments to regulate the activities of pedestrians and non-motorised road users in a public place.
2. While the old act did not have any provision to protect children during the commute, the new act makes it mandatory for every child to be secured by a safety belt or a child-restraint system. The new law also makes the accompanying adult accountable by imposing a penalty of Rs. 1000.
3. The amendment bill of 2019 requires every child above the age of 4 years to wear a helmet when being carried on a motorcycle
4. While the old act had no provision to recall vehicles that were old, unsafe or harmful to the environment. the new bill empowers the central government to recall vehicles that do not meet standards.
5. The new act allows for establishment of testing agencies for issuing certificates of approval

• Under the old act, a person may have multiple licenses from different states and is exempt from the test if he/she possess the driving certificate issued by any institution recognised by the state government
• The renewal of transport licenses has been increased to five years from three years.
• The renewal of transport licenses has been increased to five years from three years.
•  The renewal of transport licenses for hazardous goods has been increased to three years from one year

Road safety issues and various measures for road safety

ROAD SAFETY ISSUES

• The agencies, contractors or consultants involved in design, laying down and maintenance of roads,
• Research shows that the risk of being involved in a traffic crash increases with every kilometer traveled in a personal vehicle
• Increased use of public transport improves accessibility, thereby improving road safety.
• Vehicles could potentially damage the health and safety of road users, because of design flaws
• Many traffic offenses in India, such as drunk driving and speeding, currently have low penal provisions.
• Road traffic crashes are an epidemic in India and this is not only a public health issue but also an economic one. 
  

VARIOUS MEASURES FOR ROAD SAFETY

• Improved road safety has been demonstrated through effective central legislation
• Using public transport is an effective way of improving road safety
• The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill
• proposes creating a board with representation from state governments to advise central and state governments on road safety and traffic management. 
• clearly links infrastructure design to safety
• empowers the central government to come up with national transport policy, which would help develop a framework for planning, granting permits and setting priorities for the road transport sector
• proposes a new category of permits that will help scale up public transport services in cities as well as rural areas.
• empowers the government to ask manufacturers to recall motor vehicles if they could potentially damage the health and safety of road users, whether because of design flaws, emissions or other features
• imposes enhanced penalties will act as a deterrent and improve safety.
• would also create a Motor Vehicles Accident Fund that provides compulsory insurance to all road users including drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians
• protects “Good Samaritans,” anyone who assists a crash victim by providing emergency medical or non-medical support, from any civil or criminal action
• For offenses committed by juvenile drivers, the bill proposes that the guardian or owner of the vehicle would be guilty.

•  Based on evidence provided by World Resources Institute (WRI) a road safety and sustainable mobility awareness program called Safer by design through opinion pieces workshops and trainings for civil society groups and trucking and taxi associations helps build consensus that sustainable mobility plays an important role in improving road safety.

Latest tools and techniques used for traffic management

LATEST TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Traffic management is the organisation, arrangement, guidance and control of both stationary and moving traffic, including pedestrians, bicyclists and all types of vehicles. Its aim is to provide for the safe, orderly and efficient movement of persons and goods, and to protect and, where possible, enhance the quality of the local environment on and adjacent to traffic facilities

Some of the software currently being used in India for traffic management are listed below:

• Automatic Number Plate Recognition (APNR) - APNR system is a state-of-the-art, real time Optical Character Recognition (OCR) based vehicle monitoring system, to provide automatic number plate recognition or license plate recognition for tracking and identification of vehicles. The system analyses a video stream in real-time from the camera and processes the analysed video stream for automatic number plate recognition function. The processed license plates are stored in a database and can be verified against a number of user-defined criteria. The system can be deployed at toll booths, entry/exit traffic surveillance and for law enforcement applications for tracking hot-listed / stolen / suspected / wanted vehicles
• Following are the features of the APNR
• Detects and reads license plates automatically in real time
• Real-time 24/7 city surveillance solution
• Can be integrated with other security modules
• Multiple entry points can be integrated together to a single central module
• Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) - RLVD is a video based red light enforcement system. It comprises of an overview camera and the ANPR camera. The overview camera shows the entire violation scenario and the ANPR camera captures the number plate of the violating vehicle. The system takes input from the traffic lights and starts capturing red light violations as soon as the traffic signal turns red. It comes with a state-of-the-art user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) for seamless operation. Its features are summarised below:
• Video based red light violation detection system
• Consists of APNR camera and overview camers
• Violation evidence capturing module
• Automated 24 / 7 operation

• Speed enforcement system (SES) -  SES is a state-of-the-art video based speed violation detection system. It determines the vehicle speed by calculating the time between two frames of the vehicle and captures the image of the number plate of the violating vehicle. This system does not use the conventional sensors like radars, inductive loop or laser for detecting the speed. It comes with a state-of-the-art user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) for seamless operation. The GUI provides images of the vehicle and the number plate, text conversion of number plate after OCR, along with date, time and location of the offense. The features of this system are listed below:
• Video based speed violation detection system
• Can give average speed of vehicle between two reference points
• System can be used for hot-listed and wanted vehicles
• Reads upto speeds of 120 kmph with high accuracy.

 Parking Management System (PMS) - Finding and managing parking is a serious problem for cities across the country. A Parking Management System has a high level of customisation depending on the customers needs. The system provides a superior system of security and reliability with complete access to data management. It is designed to meet the needs of controlled parking areas by reducing the effort of people searching for parking slots and increasing revenues for parking facility. It is a comprehensive system comprising of 

• parking sensors
• gateways
• revenue management and
  
• central software for administrative reporting and analytics
  

Exclusive bus lanes and closing side streets

EXCLUSIVE BUS LANES AND CLOSING SIDE STREETS

Exclusive bus lanes

• As the name suggests, an exclusive bus lane is a lane restricted to buses on certain days and certain times. It may also be used to speed up public transport that would otherwise be held up due to traffic congestion.
• Separating buses from other vehicles in dedicated lanes protects then from traffic congestion and delays while improving the reliability of services.
• The smoother driving also saves fuel and makes buses a more appealing mode of travel during peak hours.
• Exclusive bus lanes are highly visible and typically marked-out.
• Any other vehicle that strays into a bus lane is liable to be fined

Closing side streets

• A side street is a quiet, often narrow street which leads off to a busier street
• A side street is a street that intersects a main street and ends there. 
• It is generally of little importance to through traffic.
• Being the last mile of the road system, it generally carries little traffic
• Side streets are generally residential in use and character.
• Side streets may be used for vehicular parking

Motorist information Systems

MOTORIST INFORMATION SYSTEM

• Urban traffic has increased tremendously in the past few years leading to frequent congestion. 
• Simply increasing the number of roads will not help the situation.
• It is here that Motorist Information System that is based on modern information technology can assist in reducing traffic congestion and improving traffic flows and safety.
• There is a significant potential to improve traffic conditions on urban roads and highways by making use of information technology
• With use of information technology in traffic engineering, the concept of "MOTORIST INFORMATION SYSTEM" came into existence
• Motorist Information System helped in improvement of existing facilities with improved traffic management schemes
• Several urban trips are poorly designed resulting in unnecessary delays.
• Better use of existing facilities can be achieved by providing information to motorists regarding alternative paths and actual traffic conditions on their route by using a combination of side-way signals and on-board systems.
• Examples of Motorist Information Systems
•  Pretrip Information Systems, 
• Roadside displays, 
• Traffic Information Broadcasting Systems, and 
• Electronic Route Guiding Systems.
• The main characteristics of these technological advances are:
• reduced costs and
  
• increased capabilities enabling efficient data collection and processing large amounts of data for detailed and sophisticated analysis and control
• Various Motorist Information Systems being used in different corners of the world are listed below:
• AUTOGUIDE in England
• ALI-SCOUT in Germany
• AMTICS IN Japan and
• PATHFINDER in the United States of America
• However, despite all the advantages mentioned above, it has been seen that there are diminishing marginal returns as more information is provided.

Tidal flow operation methods

 TIDAL FLOW OPERATION METHODS

Tidal flow operation is a traffic management process whereby the carriageway width is shared between the two directions of travel in near proportion to the flow in each direction.

• The objective of Tidal flow operation is to provide a cost-effective means of increasing the capacity of a road.
• Tidal flow refers to a road where a lane or lanes can sometimes carry traffic in one direction and at other times in the opposite direction, to help with traffic flow. 
• Traffic signals usually indicate when a lane is open or closed.
• Tidal Flow is also sometimes installed in tunnels or bridges, to allow traffic to be diverted around
• Tidal Flow tends to be used on roads where the flow of traffic is heavy in a certain direction and light in the other at some times, and then reverses at other times.
• Overhead signals will show either a white or green downward arrow when a lane is open and a red cross when a lane is closed.
• The term "Tidal flow" is used in British English while other parts of the world, the term 'reversible lane' is used.
• The benefit of tidal flow (reversible lanes) operation is that the available capacity in each direction of traffic can be varied in response to highly directional inbound or outbound traffic flows.
• An odd number of lanes, usually three to seven, is required for effective tidal flow operation.
• The middle lane operates as a contraflow buffer zone to serve traffic in different directions
• To ensure safe operation of contraflow, lane-use control signals with green arrows and red intersections located at overhead gantries are used wherever a particular movement is prohibited for designated lanes.
• Examples of sites that employ tidal flow operations are
• Aston Expressway (Birmingham, UK)
• Canwick Road (Lincoln, UK)
• London Road (Sheeld, UK)
• Wide boulevards and some freeways in Washington, D.C. (US)
• Coronado Bridge (San Diego, US)
• Tidal Busway (Eugene Oregon, US) 
• Several urban roads in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo (Brazil), part of State Road SC-405 (Florianopolis, Brazil).
  

Advantages 

1. Increase in motorway capacity during peak traffic hour at relatively low cost to governmental organisations
2. Cost of these tidal flow lanes is a fraction of the cost to construct additional motorway lanes 
3. Minimum disruption to traffic
4. Reduction in congestion
5. Safety benefits

Disadvantages 

1. A major disadvantage is is the cost to efficiently control reversible lanes and the confusion to drivers and safety.
2. A disadvantage of reversible flow lanes involves general lack of public awareness. 
3. Traffic flow is potentially confusing
4. Complication of nearby signals
   

One way streets

 ONE WAY STREETS

A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typically result in higher traffic flow as drivers may avoid encountering oncoming traffic or turns through oncoming traffic. One-way streets are common in city areas. They can be recognized from the signs and markings on the road. Broken white lines separate traffic lanes on one-way streets. Yellow markings are not seen on a one-way street. It is not illegal to reverse into a main road but it is not advisable 

Advantages: 

• increased capacity
• reduced intersection
• conflicts for pedestrians and vehicles
• reduced collisions.
  

Disadvantages:

• longer travel, 
• difficult orientation for out-of-towners, 
• potential for excess speeds
  

Some of the reasons one-way traffic is essential:

• The street is too narrow for movement in both directions and the road users unable to coordinate easily.
• Prevent drivers from cutting through residential streets to bypass traffic lights or other requirements
• to stop (a so-called "rat run")
  

One-way streets eliminate tough left turns through oncoming traffic. Flow is high on one-way streets because there's little reason for cars to slow down.

One-way operation permits much better traffic signal progression for smoother traffic flow. This results in traffic moving at regulated speeds with less stop-and-go driving.
 

This makes it much safer and faster for cross street traffic, bicycles, and pedestrians to cross major streets.