An
expert committee was constituted by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to
review the format for reporting of road accidents. The committee headed by
Senior Adviser of the Transport Research Wing and consisting of experts from
IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, WHO, senior officers from the Police and Transport
Departments of States, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, submitted its recommendations,
which have also been accepted by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Briefing
the media in the capital today, Mrs Kirti Saxena, Senior Adviser of Transport
Research Wing and Chairperson of the committee said that FIRs at police
station suffer from under reporting of data from the accident site, which are
therefore inaccurate and incomplete. She informed that the committee met a
number of times to look into the weaknesses of the existing format for
reporting accidents. After studying the way accidents are reported in
various states and also in other countries, the new format was recommended to
the Ministry. She also stated that the main role would be that of the police
for whom workshops would have to be held.
Prof.
Geetam Tiwari from IIT Delhi and member of the committee elaborated on the
salient features of the new format. She informed that at present reports are
collected from police stations and State Governments send their report to the
Centre. She expressed the hope that the new format would fill in gaps in
reporting of accidents by minimizing subjectivity.
Prof.
Sudeshna Mitra of IIT Kharagpur and member of the committee said that
recording of the accident site will play crucial role in the task of
reporting. She added that the GPS detail will enable to understand the road
design at site. Besides, vehicle analysis and also person related details
would help in analyzing the accidents.
The
recording of accident data is done in FIRs at police stations. These records
are liable to be subjective as the police personnel fill it up according to
their understanding and assign reasons for accidents as per their interpretation.
There are apprehensions that due to limited technical understanding, the police
persons recording the data are not able to recognize the role of road
engineering defects, the nature of impacting vehicles and other such technical
details that may have caused the accident. As a result, these aspects that are
so vital for ensuring road safety but remain unreported or under reported.
After
a series of deliberations the committee has developed a uniform accident
Recording Format to be adopted by the police in all states and UTs. The
accident Recording Form has five sections designed to capture all relevant
information like accident identification/location, road condition, vehicles
involved and victim details. Section A contains accident identification details
like location, vehicle type etc. Section B captures road conditions and
features like culvert, gradient, pothole etc. Section C would capture details
about vehicle – both motorized and non motorized, overloading etc. Section D
would capture traffic violations by drivers and Section E would capture details
about persons other than drivers involved in the accident. The form is simple
and would be easy for the police persons at thana levels to understand and fill
up. It also minimizes subjective elements.
In
addition to the above, the committee has also developed a set of corresponding
annual road accident data Reporting Format consisting of 17 forms in which the
states/ UTs would be required to furnish the annual road accident data to TRW
of the Ministry within one month of the completion of a calendar year.
This
development is important as the data forms the basis for analyzing the cause of
accidents, identifying black spots and taking corrective steps to eliminate
the same. This is also the data that gets compiled by the Transport Research
Wing of the Ministry in its annual publication Road Accidents in India. Over a
period of time the data will reveal patterns which will provide solutions and
enable action to be taken.
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UM/NP
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