BHUBANESWAR: Odisha has missed the deadline set by the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety for reducing road accident fatalities by 50 per cent (pc) in a period of five years.
Reviewing road safety initiatives taken by various states/UTs, the committee in 2014 had asked the Odisha government to put measures in place that would bring down fatalities by half by 2020. But, there has been a steady increase in the number of fatalities from 3,931 in 2014 to 4,738 in 2020, an increase of about 21 pc.
The number of deaths came down in 2020 due to lockdown following the outbreak of Covid-19. As many as 5,333 people had died in road accidents in 2019 and 5,318 in 2018.
The trend, however, reversed again as the road accident fatalities rose from 1,471 between January and April in 2020 to 1,877 during the same period this year with an increase of about 27.6 pc.
Sources said barring Ganjam, Puri, Deogarh and Sonepur districts, the rise in road fatalities has been reported from other 26 districts.
Malkangiri topped the chart with maximum 115 pc growth in the four-month period followed by 90 pc in Jagatsinghpur, 85 pc in Jajpur, 81 pc in Nuapada, 51 pc in Mayurbhanj and 48 pc in Balangir.
Of around 2.6 lakh km roads in Odisha, the share of national highways (NHs) is around 4,000 km. Around 36 pc of the fatalities are reported from national highways and 40 pc of the persons killed are two-wheeler riders.
Road safety activists and road engineers claimed that the accidents leading to fatalities are rising in the State primarily due to lack of enforcement of traffic rules and regulations.
“The police might be monitoring the use of helmets and speed in cities, but those are being violated with impunity by many on the highways as there is no surveillance. Besides, there should be audit of vulnerable patches reporting regular accidents and remedial measures like rectification in road design undertaken,” pointed out Bibhuti Bhusan Mohapatra, a retired engineer.
Although it was decided to install CCTV cameras on the accident-prone stretches and blackspots on NHs and districts were asked to rope in companies for CSR or DMF funds, no tangible step has been taken.
Principal Secretary of Commerce and Transport department Madhusudan Padhi said rising road fatalities is a concern for the State.
The issue was discussed at a recent high level meeting and the collectors have been asked to carry out stringent enforcement against helmet law violation besides optimum use of devices like highway interceptors, breath analysers and portable weighbridges for detection of traffic rule violators, he said.
Meanwhile, Transport Commissioner Arun Bothra has sought suggestions to improve the road safety scenario in the State. “Will be happy to partner with individuals, NGOs and Corporate for improving road safety,” he tweeted.
Worrying figures
3,931 road fatalities in 2014
4,738 in 2020, an increase of 21 pc
5,333 people died in road accidents in 2019
5,318 in 2018
1,471 fatalities between January and April in 2020
1,877 during the same period this year