Stop human resource drain due to road deaths
On April 25, nine persons, including four women and two children, died when a tempo they were travelling in on NH-48 near Tumkur, 70 km from Bengaluru, crashed into a truck while overtaking another vehicle. Apart from the 13 injured, these nine are now part of the statistics on road deaths and injuries maintained by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH).
Unfortunately, such accidents are not far and in between. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals the deaths per thousand vehicles in 2021 increased from 0.45% in 2020 to 0.53% in 2021. While this appears to be a teeny-weeny fraction, in absolute numbers, it translates to 1,55,622 deaths in 4,03,116 road accidents across India. According to MoRTH figures, from 2017 to 2021, nearly 7,39,266 people died in road accidents in India. That is more than half the size of India’s official number of active defence personnel, which is 14 lakh—and many times more than the number of people dying due to acts of terror or in border skirmishes.
Most accidents that cause fatalities involve carelessness among the motorists themselves. The much-improved quality of roads (mainly highways) and availability of more powerful vehicles have led to rampant indulgence in over-speeding while neglecting road safety. Unmarked road humps are a perennial threat to the lives of two-wheeler riders. Besides, the habit of jaywalking among pedestrians without proper and safe footpaths only compounds the threat.
What must worry all and sundry is Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, informing the Rajya Sabha on April 6 this year that 69.80% of those dying in road accidents in 2020 were in the age group of 18–45—the most productive age category. This indicates the enormous loss of precious human resources due to road accidents. What is required is scientific road planning and safety, strict enforcement by the traffic police and transport departments, and regional transport offices’ stringent screening over granting motorists licences. It is time to stop this enormous waste of human resources due to the much-avoidable road deaths.