Centre for Highway Police Force, road safety fund

The Centre today favoured setting up of a special police force and creation of a road safety fund to help victims of mishaps on national highway across the country.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) told the Supreme Court that it has initiated a process to create a lead agency or authority for road safety at the national level and has asked the state governments also to do the same.
It said though the creation of Highway Police Force falls under the domain of state governments but Ministry of Home Affairs should facilitate its creation.
MoRTH in an affidavit gave its response to the recommendations made by the apex court-appointed panel on road safety and agreed to most of the suggestions mooted by the committee.

It said that the Centre is in agreement with the recommendation that there should be some endeavour to popularise names of good Samaritans and to protect them from legal and procedural hassles in the hands of police and hospitals.
"The MoRTH has been writing to the state governments to create road safety fund. 50 per cent of the amount collected by way of activities under the Motor Vehicle Act are to be credited to this non-lapsable road safety fund," the ministry told the apex court.