Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has called for fixing driving hours for truckers
Aiming to address the long standing issue of driver’s fatigue and lack of sleep leading to road accidents on Indian roads, especially highways, Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday called for fixing driving hours of truck drivers. He directed that trucks should be fixed with on-board sleep detection sensors to achieve this purpose.
Presiding over a meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Mr Gadkari said that just like pilots have fixed flying hours, drivers of commercial trucks – a segment of vehicles which forms a major chunk of highway traffic – should have fixed driving hours, to reduce driving fatigue.
He directed NRSC officials to include on-board sleep detection sensors in commercial vehicles, at par with European standards. The minister also sought timely updates on the matter from NRSC after every two months.
Chief ministers and district collectors will also be intimated about this move, the minister said during the meeting. Emphasising on the fact that fatalities arising out of road accidents need to be drastically cut down, Mr Gadkari asked NRSC members to share their inputs on the matter and implement all such measures in close coordination with the ministry.
The council had been formed by the road transport ministry in July this year.
