1.46 LAKH LIVES LOST ON
INDIAN ROADS IN 2015
An official report, released by Union Road Transport and
Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, said 1.46 lakh people were killed
in road accidents in India in 2015 — an increase of five per cent from 2014.Road
accidents, as a whole, rose 2.5 per cent during 2015 to 5.01 lakh or 374
accidents every day, claiming 400 lives, the report said.A majority (54.1 per
cent) of those killed in 2015 were in the age group of 15-34. Thirteen States,
including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar
Pradesh, accounted for the highest number of accidents. Among cities, while
Mumbai had the highest number of accidents (23,468), Delhi saw the most number
of such deaths (1,622).Also, drivers’ fault was responsible for 77.1 per cent
of the accidents, deaths and injuries, mainly because of overspeeding, the
report noted.
Alarmed by
the rising road accidents, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry has sent a
Cabinet note for setting up a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board
to advise the government on road safety standards and guidelines.The Centre has
decided to form a National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board through an
executive order after it failed to push the Road Safety Bill owing to the
logjam in Parliament, an official of the Road Transport and Highways Ministry
said.“The Ministry never had an advisory body of experts to lay down standards
and oversee activities related to road safety,” the official said and added
that it would be funded by the Ministry.“We are sending a Cabinet note to form
an advisory body, under our Ministry, mandated to advise on rules and
regulations, road safety and road engineering,” a senior official of the
Ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
According
to a senior official of the Ministry, the proposed body will have a permanent
office and five or six members with expertise in road engineering, road safety,
automobile manufacturing, traffic and trauma care. It will also have a joint
secretary from the Ministry as its member and will be set up through an
executive order after Cabinet’s approval.“It is not a good sign that around 1.5
lakh people are killed in road accidents every year. So many were not killed
even in wars, epidemic and militancy,” Mr. Gadkari said.The States would be
encouraged to send reports on road accidents and their causes to the Centre
every three months. “Setting up a road safety body through an executive order
makes it toothless. The idea to float a Bill was to give powers to the board to
set standards, independent of the government, and not give recommendations,”
said a member of the S. Sundar Committee on road safety and traffic management,
which in 2007 mooted the idea of setting up a Road Safety Board.
Prof. John Kurakar
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