Some suggestions for making travel safer on this road

Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Retd IAS

The bus accident near Assar in District Doda last week resulting in 39 deaths and two dozen injured is one more reminder about our inability to prevent such horrific road accidents on the Batote-Doda-Kishtawar road. The hilly roads of erstwhile district Doda comprising of present day districts of Doda, Kishtawar and Ramban continue to be vulnerable to accidents resulting in the death of estimated 150 to 200 travelers every year, on an average. One newspaper report stated that J&K is number two in the country in terms of road accidents per 10000 vehicles with about 900 deaths per year over last five years. Another statistic of last three years shows average road accident deaths per year in J&K hovering around 750. The Batote-Doda-Kishtawar road singly accounts for over 100 deaths every year. Such is the vulnerability of this road to accidents.

I am reminded of similar but more horrific bus accident in 1988 at Raggi Nallah on the same road, short of Assar from Doda side in which 64 passengers died on spot and one more died later in the military hospital at Udhampur. I had taken over as DC Doda just a few months back then. The pattern was similar, the bus coming from Kishtawar on way to Jammu, overloaded like this bus and plunged straight into Raggi Nallah after the driver lost control due to over speeding or due to a mechanical failure. It was not possible to say with certainty whether a mechanical failure had taken place as the bus after plunging into the nallah and hitting the rocks down below was so badly mangled and destroyed. The accident on 15^th November near Assar bore close resemblance to the 1988 accident except that this bus was reportedly new, 2020 model, with a capacity for 45 passengers, lesser than the ill fated bus of 1988. An enquiry into last week’s accident has been ordered by the divisional administration but unlikely it will lead to any other conclusion about the immediate cause of accident other than over speeding by the driver who is also dead. The enquiry will certainly propose set of corrective measures which the government will be well advised to consider seriously. There is no news about what administrative action has been taken against officials who are responsible for traffic management and transport administration on this road. Hope responsibility will be fixed after the enquiry report is received as otherwise this accident will soon be forgotten with no lessons learnt.

Road Condition

The Batote-Doda-Kishtawar road was with the state government to start with, with three R&B divisions looking after it from Batote, Khellani and Thatri. The road was handed over to Border Roads Organization (Beacon) in early 1990 when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was Union Home Minister and in charge of Border Roads. It continued with Beacon till it was handed back to the state government in 2014 only to be transferred to the National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in 2015. This highway is now called NH 244 and extended upto Khanabal via Sinthan, Daksum, Kokernag and Achabal, 274 kms in length. A tunnel is proposed at Sinthan where the road rises to over 11000 ft altitude at Sinthan top.

The road runs through one of the toughest terrains in Jammu and Kashmir and therefore road engineering and maintenance has to be of highest standards. Although the road was highly land slide prone till 1980s and 1990s but since then the most notorious slide spots have stabilized or been treated and now the main challenges are safety and maintenance. It is for NHIDCL to further improve road engineering at vulnerable spots and zones and incorporate accident prevention features like strong and high quality crash barriers which do not give way on impact of a speeding vehicle. The crash barriers that are seen installed are apparently not strong and high enough everywhere. It is said that the over speeding bus at Trungla, Assar on 15^th November first crashed into the barrier before falling over into the deep gorge.

With the extension of NH 244 from Kishtawar to Khanabal via Sinthan, the responsibility of NHIDCL has now doubled and therefore it must do whatever needs to be done to make the road safe for all types of vehicles. Where as road widening and surface improvement is a continuing exercise, road alignment will also need to be reviewed where ever necessary, in particular where the ascent or descent is steep or where vulnerability to accidents is high. There is some talk about need for realignment of the Batote-Doda road around Assar after the last realignment post Baglihar dam as some people think that the post Baglihar realignment needs further review. It will be advisable if NHIDCL looks into this in view of the recent accident.

Issues: Over Speeding, Drunken Driving, Driving Licenses and Fitness

Over speeding is the primary cause of road accidents on any type of road but since accidents due to over speeding on hill roads are often fatal due to vehicles rolling over into deep gorges, it (over speeding) needs to be prevented through constant oversight. The present strategy and methods are not succeeding. The Traffic and Transport Departments have to find innovative and technology based solutions. For that the following could be considered: fix maximum speed limits for LMVs and HMVs on different segments of the road; in case of stage and contract carriages that is buses and taxis, provide the display facilities within the vehicle for passengers to read the maximum speed limit and the speed at which the vehicle is travelling on real time basis and the telephone number to which the passenger can send a message (sms) to report over speeding. This arrangement of self reporting will wrest control over speed into the hands of the passengers and to that extent make the driver accountable to the passengers. The speed data needs to be stored in the hard disc of the system inside the vehicle so that it can be accessed at the time of enquiry or investigation. And then, apart from taking action against the driver and owner of the vehicle in the form of a fine for the owner and suspension of driving license of the driver, the traffic department must have an arrangement to impound the vehicle at the nearest point after the point of reporting and if need be, make alternate arrangements for the passengers to continue their journey or provide them full refund of the balance fare. All this is doable with some more thought and modifications here and there.

Drunken driving, talking on phone or chatting while driving are the second most important causes of accidents. Drunken driving needs to be penalized heavily. Suspension of the driving license for a period of six months to one year on failing the breath test must follow immediately to show zero tolerance for drunken driving and cancellation in case of repetition. For other types of misconduct like chatting or talking on phone while driving, strong action needs to be taken against the driver which should be more stringent in case of drivers of stage and contract carriages. The idea is to impose strict penalties on the delinquents to ensure safety of the travelling public. There must be some disincentive for the owners  like temporary suspension of permit so that the owners are also held accountable for the behavior of the drivers in employment with them.

The present system of issuing driving licenses needs an overhaul. As in  many countries, issue of driving licenses need not be unduly fast tracked, instead the process should involve passing multiple tests including physical and health check up. The tests have to be more stringent for license applicants for stage and contract carriages and for hill licenses. The applicants for license must also undergo short training before the license is finally issued and it must be mandatory for the applicants who apply for stage and contract carriage driving licenses. Training must include not only driving skills but also imparting knowledge of rules and laws, attitudinal training, emotional intelligence and soft skills. The Transport department in J&K is reportedly setting up IDTR (Institute of Driver Training and Research) with similar purpose, one in Jammu division and another in Kashmir. The department would be well advised to study the systems of licensing in other states and UTs to improve the existing processes and procedure in J&K.

Testing of vehicle fitness has always been a big challenge in view of large and growing number of registered vehicles and limited facilities and equipment available with the inspectors. Not sure whether testing of fitness has been opened to authorized private agencies as has been done for pollution check, but vehicle fitness testing cannot be short circuited. Lack of vehicle fitness is one of the important causes of accidents and therefore the Transport Department must think hard on this, particularly for stage and contract carriages that ply on hill roads. Penalties must be heavy for the owners in case of lack of fitness and to encourage proper care as per the laid down standard operating procedure (SOP) of repair, maintenance and timely servicing. It is learnt that the Transport department is setting up Inspection and certification centres (ICC) at Jammu and Srinagar for mandatory testing of fitness.

Tail Piece:

There is traffic mess on most city roads in the country and urgent need for shifting to new modes of public transport and mass transit systems and these have to be less polluting and largely green, run on renewable energy. Electric vehicles and cycle tracks have to be  part of the basket of changes. Experts are talking about Integrated Mass Transit Systems (IMTS). The J&K government also has some new proposals including the direct rail link connecting Kashmir with rest of the country and a remodeled Jammu-Srinagar national highway. And then the metro rail for the smart cities of Srinagar and Jammu. For now, traffic management in J&K needs more attention and innovative thinking and solutions to reduce public inconvenience due to poor regulation and mismanagement.

(Khurshid Ahmed Ganai is a retired IAS officer of erstwhile J&K cadre and a former Advisor to the Governor)