NEW DELHI: Solely six giant states – Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – accounted for almost 55 per cent of the 1,73,000 highway deaths within the nation final yr. Amongst them, Rajasthan noticed the sharpest enhance in fatalities, with an nearly 6 per cent rise in comparison with 2022, in response to information shared by state govts with Centre.
The six states registered 95,246 highway deaths in 2023 in comparison with 91,936 within the previous yr, information exhibits.
Although the experiences on highway crashes and deaths are but to be printed by highway transport ministry and Nationwide Crime Data Bureau (NCRB) beneath the house ministry, the pattern exhibits how the issue is getting larger, regardless of India’s world dedication to cut back these fatalities by half within the subsequent six years.
“Focussed efforts, correct investigation into accidents and designing interventions can carry down highway deaths. That is what I had realised in my stint whereas coping with Delhi’s visitors points. A lot of the crashes and fatalities are preventable,” mentioned former IPS officer Satyendra Garg, who was joint commissioner (visitors) in Delhi.
Specialists mentioned govt authorities want to come back out of the mindset that massive states would have greater share of fatalities as they’ve extra roads and automobiles as effectively, to take care of this “man-made disaster”. Naresh Raghavan, an highway security professional and creator of driving manuals, mentioned there’s a larger have to concentrate on driver schooling together with enforcement of legal guidelines. “Bear in mind, solely 5 or 6 guidelines could be policed or enforced. For the remaining 45 primary highway guidelines need to be taught to individuals/drivers,” he added.
Elevating issues over the rising variety of highway deaths, Union highway transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday urged officers and engineers to research all deadly crashes to seek out causes and take corrective measures.
“We misplaced 1.73 lakh lives in highway accidents final yr and bear in mind almost 60% of individuals killed yearly are within the age group of 18-34 years. The socio-economic price of highway accidents is round 3% of our GDP. Please take it critically. Cope with highway issues of safety with sensitivity, examine accidents, repair black spots and tackle points. We have now by no means misplaced so many individuals even in wars,” he had mentioned whereas addressing a convention on rising traits and applied sciences in highway and bridge building.
