One Dies Every 4 Minutes on India’s Roads
Today, many issues are standing as a challenge before the governments in the country of India. Terrorist activities remain a big problem here in the country. Anti-national forces keep on hatching conspiracies from time to time to vitiate the atmosphere of the country. Similarly, daily road accidents have also become a big challenge for the country. In a recent World Bank report, it has been told that the maximum number of people who die in road accidents are from India. By the way, India has only one percent of the world’s vehicles. But it is also true that India accounts for 11 percent of the world’s road accident deaths. Every hour 53 road accidents are happening in India and one person dies in a road accident every four minutes. This is a matter of concern. Road accident reports show that 1.3 million people have died on Indian roads in the last decade alone. About 50 lakh people have been injured in these road accidents.
India accounts for 11% of road accident deaths worldwide. The major causes of death in road accidents are rash and negligent, sleepy and drunken driving. The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) also reveals many shocking things. Last year, 1.55 lakh people lost their lives in 4.03 lakh road accidents across the country. About 426 people lost their lives every day or 18 every hour in road accidents. One person dies in a road accident every 4 minutes in India. The data also shows that it was 0.52 in the year 2019 and 0.45 in 2020 (Covid year). After that it increased to 0.53 in the year 2021. Earlier this rate was 0.56 in 2018 and 0.59 in 2017. Last year, 87,050 people lost their lives due to overspeeding and 42,853 due to careless driving in the country. The road accident of Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of the Tata Group, which was discussed in the media some time back in the country, forced the government to think. Significantly, Cyrus Mistry, former chairman of the Tata Group, died in a road accident in Palghar, Maharashtra on Sunday. Just before the road accident, his SUV had covered a distance of 20 kilometers in just 9 minutes. Cyrus Mistry was sitting on the back seat, but he was not even wearing a seat belt. After this, the person sitting on the back seat of the vehicle was also instructed to wear seat belt. In the country, two months ago, a bus carrying pilgrims from Panna district of Madhya Pradesh on Char Dham Yatra fell into a ditch in Uttarkashi. It is said that the driver had lost control due to the high speed of the bus.
The Chief of the Central Road Research Institute on road accidents occurring in India says, “India is an area adjacent to the north and south of the earth. Here people feel lethargic and sleepy after eating in the afternoon. For this reason, in some cases even a slight nap on the highway takes the form of a major accident. Drunk driving in the evening is also a problem in India.” According to the CRRI chief, the light on the highway is less between daybreak and full night, this is also a major reason for the accident. It was told in the NCRB report that in the year 2021, 19.9% of the accidents took place between 6 pm to 9 pm. Whereas 17.6% accidents took place from 3 pm to 6 pm and 15.5% accidents took place from 12 noon to 3 pm. During this period, out of total 4,03,116 road accidents in the country, 2,40,828 accidents happened due to over speeding and negligence. Due to over speeding and negligence, 87,050 people lost their lives and 2,28,274 were injured. There were 1,03,629 accidents on the House due to dangerous driving and overtaking. In these road accidents, 42,853 people lost their lives and around 91,893 people were injured. By the way, the mobile revolution in the country of India has greatly affected the lifestyle of the common people. Today mobile has made everyone aware. Common man is getting every big and small information from mobile. On the other hand, by becoming Yamraj, mobile is also becoming the reason for the death of people on the roads.
The report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is making surprising disclosures about this. According to the report, in the last five years, about 40,000 road accidents have taken place in the country due to the use of mobile phones while driving. The number of road accidents caused by mobiles in India is increasing every year. According to statistics, in the year 2016, 4976 road accidents happened while using mobile. Similarly, 8526 accidents occurred in the year 2017, 9039 accidents in the year 2018 and 10522 road accidents in 2019 due to the use of mobiles. Due to this, there were 6753 accidents in the year 2020, although there was a lockdown that year due to the Corona period. Crores of people are using mobiles in the country. On the road, we will see many two wheeler and four wheeler drivers talking on mobile. By the way, the government has made a rule of challan for using mobile while driving on the road. But despite this, most people do whatever they want. Experts believe that both driving while talking on mobile and driving under the influence of alcohol can be fatal. While talking on the mobile, the attention of the person goes away from the road for a few moments and he loses his control. This moment becomes the cause of road accident. People should seriously consider this. By doing this, we ourselves invite road accidents.
In our country, road accidents are more on the national highways. Data tabled in Parliament showed that in 2019, 30.5% of road accidents occurred on national highways and 24.3% on state highways. In the year 2021, there were 1,22,204 road accidents on national highways. 53,615 people died in these road accidents. Similarly, data from previous years shows that in the year 2017, there were 1,41,466 road accidents on national highways and 1,16,158 road accidents on state highways. In the same year 2018, 1,40,843 road accidents occurred on national highways and 1,17,570 accidents occurred on state highways. In the year 2019, there were 1,37,191 road accidents on national highways. While this year 1,08,976 road accidents took place on state highways. There is a need to run a big campaign to prevent road accidents in the country. We all need to work with the government on this. Social service organizations should also contribute to make people aware of road rules.
