Road accidents can be minimized through awareness and strict enforcement: ADC

The District Road Safety Committee met to enhance traffic management, enforce rules, and promote awareness, resulting in 167 license suspensions for DUI.

To strengthen road safety measures and ensure smooth traffic management, the District Road Safety Committee held its monthly meeting on Thursday.

The ADC instructed officials to maintain zero tolerance towards drunken driving and continue the enforcement drive.

The meeting, held under additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Sonu Bhatt at the Mini Secretariat, began with a review of action taken on decisions made during previous meetings. Senior officials presented progress reports, following which the ADC issued directions to expedite implementation.

The ADC said that road accidents can be reduced through sustained public awareness and strict enforcement of traffic rules, directing departments concerned to conduct regular awareness campaigns to promote disciplined road behaviour.

District transport officer and secretary, Regional Transport Authority (RTA), Parmjeet Chahal said that under a special drive against drinking-and-driving, 167 licences have been suspended for three months. Of these, 148 were suspended in Badshahpur and 19 in Sohna.

The ADC instructed officials to maintain zero tolerance towards drunken driving and continue the enforcement drive.

Under the Safe School Vehicle Policy, the RTA inspected 450 school buses across the district and fined 52 for violations such as absence of mandatory safety equipment, improper display of school bus signage, non-functional emergency exits, lack of fire extinguishers and first-aid kits, overloading, and deployment of drivers or conductors without valid documents or police verification.

Bhatt directed block education officers (BEO) to organise awareness camps in schools and asked the RTA to submit a detailed monthly compliance report. He also mandated regular police verification of all school transport staff through the portal.

The RTA carried out a special drive against overloaded vehicles, primarily heavy commercial vehicles such as trucks, dumpers and goods carriers, in February. As many as 233 vehicles were challaned and ₹1.40 crore penalty was imposed.

An overloaded vehicle is one that carries goods beyond the maximum permissible weight specified in its Registration Certificate (RC) under the Motor Vehicles Act.

Representatives of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) informed the committee that work on pedestrian crossings, lane markings and installation of bollards on Jail Road has been completed.

They added that a joint inspection of Sector 4, 7 and 9 chowks was conducted by the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), DTP (enforcement), and GMDA. Notices were issued to encroachers and the removal will be completed by March 20.

Meanwhile, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said that a high-mast light has been installed at Panchgaon Chowk to improve visibility.