India, Nov. 11 -- In a meeting with the chief secretary of Maharashtra on Monday, the Supreme Court-monitored high-power committee on road safety instructed the state government to strictly implement the mandate of helmets for two-wheelers and seat belts for all the passengers in four-wheelers. The directives come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court order last month and accident data which showed that 70% of road accidents involved two-wheelers and pedestrians.

Subsequent to this, the Maharashtra government issued a circular ordering all municipal corporations in the state to allocate 1% of their annual budget for road safety, traffic discipline and public awareness initiatives as per the SC directions on pedestrian safety. With th...