Rash and careless driving claimed lives of maximum number of people in road accidents in state. As many as 7846 road casualties in 2017 in state were attributed to rash and negligent driving, said a study conducted by Police Training and Research Institute and state road security cell. With 10177 deaths in 2017, Madhya Pradesh was ranked 6th in road fatalities in the nation.
The study claimed that people are killed more due to wrong side driving in comparison to drunk driving. In all 610 people were killed while driving on wrong side of the road, while drunk driving claimed lives of 217 people during the period. Jumping signals also led to road fatalities as 62 people were killed while flouting red light.
Distracted driving is also one of the major causes of road accidents. Using mobile phone while driving is a killer habit, said the study stating that 114 people had lost their lives talking on phone while driving. The study stated that 1,328 people had died due to various reasons.
A book released recently by DGP VK Singh, in the presence of ADG PTRI Purshottam Sharma, throws light into the study which cites reasons and causes of the roads accidents in the state. The research has been conducted on the data collected in the year 2017.
73 % road victims were in 18- 45 yr age bracket
Maximum 73 per cent people from the age group 18- 45 years had been killed in the accidents, 30 per cent of people from the age 25 to 35 had been killed. 22 percent youth ageing from 18 to 25 and 21 percent people ageing between 35 to 45 years are killed in the accidents.
The study said that minors accounted to nine per cent of road casualties in the state. Negligence and failure of parents to put check on their loved ones from taking steering their hands is leading to casualties, said the study. Meanwhile, the road fatalities in people over 60 years declined in the period. 12 per cent of the people belonging to 45-60 years died in road accidents.
National highways are killer roads
The national highways are the killer roads in the state. 25 per cent of road casualties occurred on National Highway, which comprises merely 3.98 per cent of road stretch in state. The state highways which are only 10.13 percent in length counted for 29 per cent of the accident deaths.
46 per cent of the people were killed in the rural, district and others roads, which constitutes 85.87 per cent of road length bin state.
Driving licence suspension on five clauses
The ASP Traffic Pradeep Chouhan informed that the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety had recommended suspending the driving licence on five issues. The cases are forwarded to the road transport officer for the action.
