Causes of road tragedies on mountainous routes

The unprecedented increase in the frequency of road accidents shows the failures of the government in making the journey safe for the travelers in the mountainous as districts of Chenab Valley- Ramban Doda and Kishtwar and parts of Kashmir valley. The killing of 35 passengers in a tragic road accident in Keshwani area of Kishtwar district shows the failures of the government’s road safety plans on multiple fronts including overloading in mini buses plying on hilly roads in mountainous areas like Kishtwar , violation of speed limits and control measures for stopping drug impaired driving . Interestingly mini-bus that met fatal accident in Keshwani area of kishtwar district on Monday was also overloaded and only three days back eleven people including nine girl students were killed in a similar accident on another mountainous route connecting Poonch with Shopian near Peer Ki Gali . Unfortunately the government has been showing laxity in taking measures for upgrading the roads connecting Jammu with three Chenab valley districts-Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar with Jammu plains and Kashmir valley with Kishtwara, Rajouri and Poonch. While unprecedented delay in the up gradation of the majority of the hilly roads connecting mountainous areas with plains in Kashmir valley and Jammu province is one of the major causes of fatal road accidents , the cash starved R&B department is carrying out just patch work instead of full macadamisation of the dilapidated roads even in the plains of all the three regions of the state and consequently death traps on dilapidated hilly roads are fast becoming the causes of major road accidents reported recently.
In several road accident surveys the deaths caused in road accidents have been shown more than the deaths caused in militancy related incidents during recent years in both Kashmir valley and Jammu province. Not only the dilapidated roads but traffic regulation too is responsible for increasing frequency of road accidents in the mountainous areas of the state as the traffic police department has failed to forcefully implement the speed limit and control the fast growing menace of overloading both in the plains and hilly areas of the state. Had the authorities disallowed overloading in the mini bus that skidded off the road in Keshwani area of Kishtwar district, the lives of 35 passengers could have been saved.