The Hindu Business Line : Move to tighten AP road laws

WORRIED over the increasing number of deaths in road accidents, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to introduce a bill in the ensuing Assembly session, to awardstern punishments to erring drivers.

Announcing this here on Sunday after launching the month-long SAFAR (Safety Always For All Roads), the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said 83 per cent of deaths in road accidents were due to rash and negligent driving.

Expressing concern over the increasing number of fatalities in the last few years, he said the number of deaths had gone up by 30-40 per cent in the last three years, while the number of vehicles and accidents grew by nine per cent.

With a view to tackling the problem, the State Government launched `SAFAR' to promote awareness on road safety.

About one million people were killed every year globally, 74 per cent of these were from the developing countries, a senior Transport Department official said, explaining the objective of `SAFAR'.

The global economic loss was put at $500 billion worldwide.

In the developing countries, the economic loss due to road accidents was estimated to be close to two per cent of their GDP (gross domestic product), amounting to nearly $100 billion.

In India, road accidents killed over one lakh people and injured 3.3 lakh people.

"Road accidents result in an estimated loss of Rs 56,000 crore, more three per cent of the country's GDP," he said.

In Andhra Pradesh, about 11,000 deaths were reported due to road accidents last year.

While there were 17,218 accidents recorded in 1994-95, the number shot up to 38,937 during 2004-05, registering 128 per cent growth.

SAFAR was aimed at training at least 600 trainers of private driving schools to improve their knowledge and skills all over the State.

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Move to tighten AP road laws