He said important aspects of issuing hill licences, providing adequate number of vehicles, curbing overloading and upgrading road stretches in the accident-prone areas should be focused in the strategy, an official spokesman said here. The Chief Minister was chairing a meeting to discuss measures to reduce road accidents on the hill roads, especially in Doda and Kishtwar districts.

Omar said overloading could be eradicated by enhancing the availability of public transport on the busy routes. Not only was the enforcement of strict regulations a must to stop this, it also required public awareness.

The Chief Minister asked the Traffic Department to place reflectors in highly accident-prone stretches so that drivers, at least, get reference of road. “This could be short-term temporary measure till vulnerable road stretches are upgraded and improved,” he added.

Referring to the traffic management in the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu, the Chief Minister said some incentives for best traffic managers in the traffic police should be introduced to encourage them for rendering extraordinary service in this regard. “We should also think of some Urban Transport Authority or Corporation to manage traffic in the cities,” he added.

The Chief Minister gave directions for enforcing rules pertaining to the use of helmets and registration number-plates on the vehicles and said this should begin from the government departments. He said the traffic police should launch a drive to make people aware about the size and type of the registration number-plates they require to use on their vehicles. He also directed for placing motorcycle traffic police squad on duty in the cities to enforce traffic regulations and manage the flow of traffic.

Source: The Tribune