WB loan to take Andhra ahead on road safety

Saw this on HU Mailing List-

http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/530785/
WB loan to take Andhra ahead on road safety
Sreenivas Janyala Posted online: Tuesday , Oct 20, 2009 at 0253 hrs
Hyderabad : Efforts in Andhra Pradesh to improve safety on roads and
reduce accidents have received a shot in the arm with the World Bank
approving a loan of $320 million.

The state recorded the third highest number of accidents in the
country in 2008-2009. On average 36 people died every day in road
accidents on the state highways and district roads which have turned
into death traps due to poor maintenance and faulty designing. Last
year, over 13,000 people died on the state’s highways.

The World Bank-aided Andhra Pradesh Road Sector Project would improve
the condition of several important state highways and fund the
maintenance of 6,000 km of highways and inter-district roads over a
period of five to six years. A major component of the loan is to be
utilised for two-laning of some highways and four-laning of busier
highways.

R&B officials say a component of the World Bank loan is meant for road
safety. “Road designs would be improved where there are ‘black spots’
or accident-prone zones. Providing rest areas and parking bays along
highways for weary or sleepy drivers, and making road signs more
visible are some of the things to be done to improve safety on roads,”
an official said. “Patrolling on the highways to check incidence of
drinking and driving, rash or negligent driving will also be
increased.”

R&B Minister G Aruna Kumari maintained that the loan would boost the
government efforts to reduce accidents and loss of lives on the
highways. “We want our highways to be known for better connectivity,
not as death traps,” she added.

However, deputy chief engineer (roads), Roads and Buildings
Department, A Rajulu said the focus would be not just on improving the
quality and design of roads but also on ensuring that avoidable
accidents do not occur. “By this I mean that a lot of onus is also on
the road users and drivers to prevent accidents,” he added.

A four-year-long study by the AP Road Safety Authority and R&B
revealed that 60 per cent accidents occurred due to overspeeding on
the state highways and a majority of them occurred between 12 night
and 4 am. “We want to ban movement of heavy vehicles, buses and big,
high-speed cars on the highways from midnight till sunrise. Sleepy
drivers are causing the maximum number of accidents, not only head-on
collisions but also driving off the road or hitting dividers. We have
also suggested that all trucks and buses doing long distances must
have a second driver and they change every 300 km. This should be a
must in case of night driving,” Rajulu said.

The WB-assisted upgrading of highways coupled with the Chennai-Kolkata
Golden Quadrilateral that traverses through the state will make Andhra
one of the most well-connected states in the country. “Once the work
is done, more than 65 per cent of the highways and district roads in
the state would be two-lane,” an official said.

Kindly forgive my ignorance but the question I want to ask is that do we really need WB loans to do these kind of things? Is the incentive of "Big Money" important to get our babus working?