Government to Make Airbags, Speeding Alerts in Cars Mandatory; To Install Cameras for Speed Check
The fines one pays for violating any traffic rule are quite high but the regulations seems very lax at the moment in India. Even though the traffic police has tried to curb such incidents, not every corner of the country can be watched over everyday.
The Government is planning to do something about the large number of accidents everyday in India by making over speeding alert systems and airbags mandatory in all cars mandatory. These alarms will be automatically triggered when the cars attains a specific speed.
The sheer number of accidents in India is already very high and India is only second to China in terms of fatalities caused by road accidents. All kinds of fines and regulations might not help reduce the accidents, instead they will shift the accidents to another segment.
Road Accidents Deaths
“We are going to make audio alerts in vehicles mandatory to check overspeeding and curb accidents,” an official told PTI. The installed systems will beep continuously once the driver breaches the threshold speed limit.
The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has approved this regulation and it has gone to the Legal Department for careful inspection. The Government is also mulling installation of overspeeding cameras at specific locations to track the speed of the cars. These cameras will be similar to the ones used in other countries.
Will these rules be effective?
In the past we have seen traffic rules and regulations getting stricter, but the number of accidents continues to increase. The number of vehicles on the roads is also increasing everyday, putting everyone in greater danger.
Forcing car owners to install an alarm system will not be very effective because such things can easily be tampered with. Even if car manufacturers have to install them in new vehicles, owners can easily get them off the cars from third party service centers.
The other thing is that speed limits are different from different roads in India, and having one common speed limit set in the car can be a pain for the riders. For example, an alarm system that goes off after 80 km/hr in a car will be annoying for drivers on expressways and highways.
Having said that, airbags should be made mandatory in all cars, and India is only one of the few countries where such technology is not given much heed. A lot of cars in India have failed the NCAP crash tests and to compensate for the inferior quality of such cars, manufacturers must make airbags compulsory, at least for the front passengers.
This regulation has not been passed yet, but the Government wants to make sure road safety is priority and is aiming to make these two features mandatory in cars. Even if it means that vehicles are going to get slightly more expensive, the owners must feel safe in their own vehicles.
Source: IE
