PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Alarmed over 884 deaths in 1,480 road accidents till August this year in Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court panel on road safety has ordered mandatory crash barriers in hills and monthly meetings of district road safety committees, among other directions.
The retired SC judge and chairman of the SC Committee on Road Safety Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre reviewed road safety measures with the chief secretary Anand Bardhan, stakeholder departments and all district magistrates on Monday.
Officials informed that till August 2026, the State reported 1,480 accidents in which 884 persons died and 1,626 were injured. Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Nainital reported the highest numbers with 131, 229, 213 and 104 deaths and 322, 338, 279 and 334 injuries respectively. Fatalities were found to be higher in rural and remote areas than in urban areas.
Sapre issued detailed directions to control accidents and reduce fatalities. He directed that every district be developed as a ‘Zero Fatality District’ as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways standards and that the PM Relief Scheme be widely publicised and effectively implemented.
He directed that all government employees and staff in government institutions be motivated to comply with motor vehicle laws with strict enforcement of ‘No Helmet-No Entry’, ‘No Entry without Driving Licence’ and ‘No Entry without Insurance’. Similar arrangements should be implemented for students in schools, colleges and coaching centres run by the Education department, he stressed.
Sapre ordered early completion of Automated Driving Test Tracks in all transport offices for computerised testing before issuing licences.
He directed that cooperation of vehicle manufacturers like Maruti and Honda be sought under CSR for installing two-wheeler and four-wheeler simulators in Children Traffic Parks under construction in Dehradun and Haridwar.
He also ordered installation of ANPR cameras along the Char Dham Yatra routes to monitor vehicles and act against violators and inclusion of other offences in the violations being detected by existing ANPR cameras.
He directed time-bound fixing of potholes with fixed accountability of stakeholders.
“Every accident should be analysed in depth, including causes of accident, causes of death, preventive measures and their timely implementation,” he said and emphasised 4E – Engineering, Enforcement, Education and Emergency Care.Sapre said coordination among all departments is essential for accident prevention.
He further directed framing of rules/SOP in a time-bound manner for pedestrian safety as per recent SC directions and sending its report to the committee.
“Crash barriers are mandatory on all roads in hilly areas to prevent vehicles from crashing into gorges and a timeline should be fixed for installation on remaining roads as per IRC standards,” he stated.
