A spokesperson of the State Transport department informed here today that the state government has constituted District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) in all the districts to formulate, coordinate and monitor road safety programmes. The committee to be chaired by District Magistrate and collector (Ex-officio) will monitor the implementation of State Road Safety Policy and the targets set under it. It will regularly track and update State Road Safety Council (SRSC) on details of road crashes that took place in the district including detail of vehicle, cause of crash, spot investigation, evidence, offenders and details of victims and their latest condition, type of injury caused and FIR registered etc. He said that the committee will promote good samaritans to assist the road accident victims. DRSC will publish road accident data on monthly basis on public domain on the district website portal and on the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) portal (http://morth-roadsafety.nic.in/edisha/index.aspx) of the central government.
The committee will develop a district road safety plan and prepare an Emergency Medical Plan to prevent mass fatality accidents in the districts. It will also ensure forensic crash investigation for all mass fatality crashes and adequate availability of different ambulance types as per historic case load and optimal placements of these ambulances to help improve response time and handover time to hospitals, he added. Linkage between hospitals and ambulances through setting up a prior notification system and to find out the availability of beds in case of emergency will also be ensured by the committee. The spokesperson said that the DRSC will act as the nodal body for placing, requirements and disbursal of road safety funds and interact with SRSC on important matters. It will also provide regular inputs to the SRSC/lead agency of state and recommend road safety measures especially with regard to identification of major accident-prone areas, black spots etc. and also in parts regarding the important 4Es viz. Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency.
He said that the committee will provide suggestions to the state government to formulate or amend different rules and schemes. DRSC shall hold its meeting at least fortnightly on a virtual platform and meet physically at least once a month and send periodic detailed reports on the activities. SP, CMO, Executive Engineer, PWD, representative of Regional Officer, MoRT&H, Project Director NHAI, Executive Officer of MC, Urban Bodies and notified authorities, at least one Civil Society Organization or any other Non Government Organization working on improving road safety in the state, Regional Transport Officer will be the members of the committee and Highway Administrator of State Highways & Major District Roads (MDRs) will act as member secretary.
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