Bhopal: Deaths due to road accidents are on the rise in the state by a rate of 10 per cent, thanks to the negligent driving and government’s failure to implement Motor Vehicle Act effectively. More than 11,000 people lost their lives in the road accidents last year in the state. If last five year figures are taken into consideration, road accidents claimed as many as 48,163 valuable lives across the state.
To look into the causes of the road accident, the state government had formed a Road Safety Committee. While faulty road engineering is one of the main causes of accidents, rash driving, overspeeding, drunk driving, illiterate drivers, absences of road signage are among the reasons leading to road fatalities.
Ironically, it is not a drunken driver or motorist jumping signal who causes maximum accidents on road, but it is a distracted driver- busy attending mobile calls, texting or eating while driving – who causes havoc on road. With wide roads and express highways coming up in state the numbers of road casualties have multiplied as motorists tend to speed up and overtake. Some of these highways and roads have developed potholes and negotiating and over speeding through them leads to fatal accident. While faulty road construction remains one of the major causes of the accidents, lack of proper signage, bridges and culvert sans barricades are leading to fatal mishaps. Drunken driving or driving under influence of drug or alcohol too remains one of the major causes of road accidents in state.
Road to hell
The additional superintendent of police (Traffic) Pradeep Chouhan informed Free Press that in the state four major reasons for the accidental deaths. He added that we had indentified the ‘Black Spots’ in which accidents are happenings, the Black Spot are identified where five deaths or 12 accidents are reported in a year.
“In Indore we had identified 40 Black Spots and we had taken measures to prevent the accidents and in one year the rate of accidents had dropped”, he added.
He also added that “We are conducting a drive in which we are promoting to wear helmet, to avoid drunken drive, seat belts and rash driving habits, which are the four major reasons of accidents in the state”.
