The Need for Standardization of Highway Traffic Management Systems in India

摘要

The building of new highways in India, under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP), is primarily aimed at achieving faster, comfortable and safer journeys. While faster journeys, compared to those on the earlier two-lane highways, have arguably been achieved, there has been hardly any improvement on safety. Highway accidents continue to grow at an alarming rate with India having the dubious distinction of being a 'world leader' in road deaths.In the last few years, the government of India has taken initiatives on several fronts to improve safety on highways. These include, among other things, setting-up high powered committees on Road Safety and Traffic management, Road safety improvement programmes with the support of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), stipulating better design of highways and the use of Highway Traffic Management systems as part of the NHDP.