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The Supreme Court has taken a very strict stance regarding road accidents caused by faulty or illegal vehicles parked on the country’s national highways and expressways. The Supreme Court has sharply asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) as to why no effective electronic surveillance system or automatic sensor technology has been developed yet for real-time monitoring of vehicles parked on the highways even in the modern technology and digital age. Expressing concern over the gruesome road accidents and painful deaths of innocent people due to collisions with trucks or other vehicles parked on the highway every day, the court has given strict instructions to make strict arrangements for road safety. This strong judicial intervention has sent the country’s transport and highway administration into a tizzy, and it is expected that major and stringent changes will soon be seen in the highway safety rules.
Deaths due to vehicles parked on the highway and court’s concern
On Indian roads, defective vehicles parked without any reflectors or indicators in the middle or on the side of the highway during night time or low visibility are becoming a death trap. While hearing various PILs filed in the Supreme Court and data related to road safety, the bench expressed deep displeasure that the administration is collecting toll tax every year, but the basic measures that should be taken for the safety of passengers are missing. It has now become a common thing for speeding vehicles to suddenly collide with trucks or cars parked on the highway, in which the entire family gets lost. During the hearing, the court said that to prevent such avoidable accidents, it is not enough to simply issue challan or make food delivery, but there is a strong need for a fool-proof and technologically advanced system which can immediately convey the danger information to the concerned authorities.
Sharp question to NHAI: Why is there lack of modern electronic and AI surveillance?
The Supreme Court asked tough questions to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, saying that today when modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), CCTV cameras, thermal sensors and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) are being used all over the world for traffic management, then why is this system not implemented on our highways? The court asked whether NHAI does not have any such electronic system which can detect whether a vehicle is parked illegally or out of order on the main lane of the highway? The court directed that instead of relying on manual patrolling of patrolling vehicles on every stretch of the highway, a centralized automatic monitoring system should be created, which can immediately track any obstruction or parked vehicle on the road and send a crane or rescue team to the spot.
Stricter regulations, accountability and the future of highway safety across the country
After this strictness of the Supreme Court, now the safety standards on expressways and national highways across the country are being reviewed afresh. It is expected that NHAI will soon present an action plan before the Supreme Court, which will mention heavy fines to stop illegal parking on the highway, CCTV based automatic challan and emergency response system to provide immediate assistance. Road safety experts believe that if modern electronic surveillance is made mandatory on highways and deployment of cranes to remove defective vehicles is ensured within stipulated time, thousands of innocent lives can be saved every year. This judicial step will prove to be a historic milestone in the direction of ensuring transparency and accountability in the country’s transport infrastructure, on which the common citizens are also keeping a close eye.