International Road Federation (IRF), a Geneva based global body working for better and safer road Mobility world-wide, has urged all political parties to come together for early passage of Amended Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) in the Rajya Sabha during the currently ongoing session of the Parliament.
The Lok Sabha has already cleared the amended Motor Vehicles Act.
“As per latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures Approximately 1.35 million people die each year world-wide as a result of road traffic crashes. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set an ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020. More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.93% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries including India, even though these countries have approximately 60% of the world’s vehicles. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years,” said K. K. Kapila, Chairman, International Road Federation (IRF), in a statement.
“Given that Indian roads witness over 500,000 road accidents each year resulting in about 147,000 fatalities, the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill is an important step towards strengthening the legal framework for improving road safety in India. The passage of the Bill will help close major gaps in the legislative framework that governs road safety in the country. India, as a signatory to the United Nations Brasilia Declaration, is committed to reducing road traffic fatalities by 50% by 2020,” said Kapila.
“To reduce the growing number of increasing fatal road accidents in the country, the IRF urges the parliamentarians from various political parties to help enact the much awaited amended Motor Vehicle Act (MVA) in the current session of the parliament to give the world a message that India is working towards its commitments to reducing road accident injuries and fatalities by half by the end of the year 2020,” said Kapila.
