NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY MONTH WILL BE INAUGURATED ON 18TH JANUARY 2021

NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY MONTH WILL BE INAUGURATED ON 18TH JANUARY 2021

Context

National Road Safety Month will be inaugurated tomorrow, to disseminate awareness regarding road safety and reduce road accidents in India.

Details

• The Ministry of Transport and Highways, the ministry has decided to observe Road Safety Month from 18 January to 17 February 2021 instead of National Road Safety Week.
• It aims at making the roads and streets in India safer.
• During this week-long yearly campaign, the government spreads awareness about how to drive safely in order to avoid accidents and injuries.
• During the Road Safety Week, police forces working for street safety make people aware of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill of 2019. This is done through various seminars, workshops, events and meetings.
• The various activities that are slated to take place during National Road Safety Month 2021 include advocacy of road safety, road safety awards, launch of digital road safety calendar 2021, selection of best performing states and UTS for road safety 2021, awards and certificates for road safety, good samaritans etc, and National Highways Excellence Awards.

Roads in India

India has one of the largest road networks across the world, spanning over a total of 5.5 million km. About 64.5 percent of all goods in the country are transported through road networks whereas 90 per cent of India’s total passenger traffic uses road networks to commute. Roads are generally classified into the following categories:

• National highways are the primary roads of the country and connect large cities and big industrial centres. The Central government has the responsibility for its development and maintenance.
• State Highways link all the important centres of industry, trade and commerce of the state and National Highways.
• District Roads connect different parts of the district, important industrial centres and market centres and usually lead in the local railway station.
• Rural Roads are found in villages and are usually of two types – pucca (or metalled) and kuchcha (or non-metalled).

Some facts about national highways in India

• NH 118 along with NH 548 are the shortest national highway in India connecting the towns Asanbani and Jamshedpur in the state of Jharkhand.
• Leh-Manali Highway is the world’s second highest-altitude motor highway connecting Shimla in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir.
• NH 44 is the longest National Highway in India which connects Srinagar to Kanyakumari.