Dear Reader,
Can the provision of BNS2 lower the accidents on Indian roads & highways?
The year 2024 started with a surprise for many of us. The commercial vehicle operators(trucks, buses and even cabs)
went on protest and stopped operation for couple of days,
before government intervened with assurance to look into their grievance against the ‘Hit & Run’ provision under the newly formulated
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (BNS2).
Yes, we do need to prevent road accidents. In my personal view, enabling the commercial driver should be done along with implementing provisions under the BNS2.
Enabling through training and policy guidelines which makes the highway driving for truck drivers little more humanly. Ensuring mandatory break between long hours of drive (for eg.
TAPA mandates not more than 4 hours of continuous drive in one go
, providing better and affordable rest area for the CV drivers.
In US, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association
(FMCSA) introduced an electronic logging device (ELD)
mandate under
MAP-21,
which was officially implemented on 18th Dec'2017. This mandate requires the use of ELDs by commercial motor vehicle drivers who are required to prepare hours-of-service (HOS), records of duty status (RODS) etc. Amongst the notable benefit of ELD is the
“Increased Driver Safety” due to monitoring of HOS.
We can also think about a structured programme to help improve the dhabas(modest eatery and rest area) on highways and help them become something like
Driver Seva Kendra run by APML.
At the least it can provide clean wash room, rest area and high security zone for the truck/goods.
Lastly, government has notably made intervention at OEM level with
AC truck cabin
and ADAS is being introduced by CV manufacturers (Tata Motors, Mahindra, Bharat Benz, etc).
BNS2 can help reduce accidents on road, but we should also look into enabling and facilitating the drivers.
Best wishes,
Maneesh Prasad
CEO, Telematics Wire
