NEW DELHI: Almost one-third of deaths that occurred in road crashes since the lockdown was enforced on March 24 have been of migrant workers, a survey by SaveLife Foundation revealed.
According to the data, 321 people lost their lives in road crashes of which 111 were migrant workers returning home. The number of injured migrant workers was 384. Also, 27 essential service workers too lost their lives in road crashes while 21 were injured.
“These numbers go on to show how dangerous our roads have remained despite the lockdown. The crash severity ratio, which is the number of deaths to crashes has remained at 25 per cent, the same as before lockdown. We must curb speeding and fatigued driving to curb crashes,” Piyush Tewari, founder of SaveLife Foundation and petitioner of the Good Samaritan Law said.
According to experts, the main cause of the crashes is speeding. “Speeding is the main cause of these crashes. When in lockdown, the streets are near empty and commuters do not follow the speed limits. This causes them to lose control of vehicle,” a researcher at the CRRI said.
Three more die on MP roads
A day after nine migrant workers were killed in MP’s Guna district, another mishap on Friday evening claimed the lives of three labourers and injured a dozen others. The workers were on way to UP from Maharashtra in a pick-up vehicle, when a speeding truck coming from behind hit it. The vehicle then rammed into a truck coming from the opposite direction.