India's road-accident record is appalling, among the worst in the world. Now, the Union government wishes to enhance safety standards through new laws that, among other things, will sharply raise fines - from hundreds of rupees to thousands. But it would be mindless to do just this. The problem is not with how large the fines are, but with how poor enforcement is. The likelihood of having to pay a hefty fine for rule-breaking will work only if a rider or driver knows that there will be no escape once caught. If the enforcement of traffic rules continues to be as lackadaisical as it is today, then merely raising fines will just end up lining the law enforcer's pockets - many will happily let a violator go if they're suitably paid off. Even if the rules are enforced and nothing else is done, then the government's coffers will fill up more without safety levels improving commensurately.
Traffic rules in urban areas across the country are enforced by the police that answer to state governments. To be serious about significantly raising road-safety standards, state governments have to be involved in the creation of a more comprehensive agenda, comprising several areas of action. For one, a huge amount of public education is called for. Not only are road users - whether drivers or pedestrians - callous about following rules; as often as not, they are even unaware of what the rules are. For example, drivers have to be made aware that overtaking is not allowed on stretches that have an unbroken centre line that cannot be crossed.
But for this rule to work, centre lines have to be properly drawn. Again, for traffic to move in an orderly manner and safely, drivers have to be familiar with and instinctively follow the concept of "right of way". At an intersection, traffic going straight or from a bigger road to a smaller road has the right of way. Hence, traffic moving from a smaller street to a bigger one has to give way to the other traffic. This discipline can only be imposed if roads have proper signage that makes it clear who has to stop and let oncoming traffic go first. At the very least, automatic traffic lights have to work and their timings fixed in keeping with the directional volume of traffic. Similarly, over-speeding rules cannot remain impractical and outdated. Instead, they need to be framed in keeping with the road conditions, density of traffic and improvements in automobile technology. Thus, the traffic police have a lot to do to set their own house in order before starting to charge hefty fines.
This is not all. For safe travel in densely populated urban areas in which road space has to be shared with not just pedestrians and cyclists but cycle and auto-rickshaws also, fast-moving vehicles have to be equipped with safety devices that technology has made both available and affordable. But unfortunately, regulators in India, intensively lobbied by auto manufacturers, are too ready to make many safety devices optional as the manufacturers fear mandatory safety devices will raise prices at the lower end and affect sales. Airbags are not that expensive, and should be a must for all cars. There is indeed a lot that the Union government could and should do to improve road safety. Blindly raising penalties is not among them.
