Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Only six large states – Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan – accounted for nearly 55 per cent of the 1,73,000 road deaths in the country last year. Among them, Rajasthan saw the sharpest increase in fatalities, with an almost 6 per cent rise compared to 2022, according to data shared by state govts with Centre.
The six states registered 95,246 road deaths in 2023 compared to 91,936 in the preceding year, data shows.
Though the reports on road crashes and deaths are yet to be published by road transport ministry and National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the home ministry, the trend shows how the problem is getting bigger, despite India’s global commitment to reduce these fatalities by half in the next six years.
“Focussed efforts, proper investigation into accidents and designing interventions can bring down road deaths. That’s what I had realised in my stint while dealing with Delhi’s traffic issues. Most of the crashes and fatalities are preventable,” said former IPS officer Satyendra Garg, who was joint commissioner (traffic) in Delhi.
Experts said govt authorities need to come out of the mindset that big states would have higher share of fatalities as they have more roads and vehicles as well, to deal with this “man-made crisis”. Naresh Raghavan, an road safety expert and author of driving manuals, said there is a greater need to focus on driver education along with enforcement of laws. “Remember, only five or six rules can be policed or enforced. For the remaining 45 basic road rules have to be taught to people/drivers,” he added.
Raising concerns over the rising number of road deaths, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday urged officials and engineers to investigate all fatal crashes to find reasons and take corrective measures.
“We lost 1.73 lakh lives in road accidents last year and remember nearly 60% of people killed every year are in the age group of 18-34 years. The socio-economic cost of road accidents is around 3% of our GDP. Please take it seriously. Deal with road safety issues with sensitivity, investigate accidents, fix black spots and address issues. We have never lost so many people even in wars,” he had said while addressing a conference on emerging trends and technologies in road and bridge construction.
