Alert today — Alive tomorrow

Road accidents are the most common thing prevalent in india and the majority of these accidents are caused by human fault, these crashes are fatal and take almost thousands of lives every year. According to a union ministries report there is a steep rise in the number of pedestrians killed on roads with 1.5lakh pedestrians killed in the road accidents touched all time high in 2018 an increase of 3500 compared to 2017. India has 1% of the world’s vehicle but accounts for 6% of world’s road traffic accidents according to data from a 2018 world’s health organisation report. India’s young productive population aged 18-45 years is involved in 70% of road accidents , According to data from Road accident in india 2018 a report published by the Ministry of Road and Transport and Highways. Road accidents are one of the 12 most common causes of deaths in india , The ninth most common causes of premature deaths and 10th most common reason for disability according to the 2017 WHO Global Health estimates. In 2018 of all the road death’s the most were of those riding two wheelers (36%) followed by pedestrian (15%) ministry data shows. If we particularly talk about Jammu and Kashmir in 2018 the number of road accidents was around Six thousand . Traffic discrepancies have been major source of death, injury and damage to property every year. In 2018 over speeding of vehicles was themain reason for road accident casualties. As per the Union ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Jammu and Kashmir ranks second across india in the tally of 10000 vehicles with an average of over 900 deaths every year in the last Five years. As per the figures of traffic department over 9000 people died and almost 80000 got injured in 56000 road accidents for last nine years. As per data available regarding the road mishaps which took place in parts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the month of September.
On 11 Sep: Motorcyclist killed, two other injured in North Kashmir road accident and on the same day youth from Srinagar dies in road accident in kathua.
On 13, Sep : Three killed ,5 injured in road accident in udhampur.
On 17, Sep: Driver killed, conductor injured in Rambanroad accident.
On 19, Sep: A 55 year old woman was killed after a speedy truck hit a motorcycle in Srinagar.
On 22, Sep: Two women killed after hit by speedy vehicle in Rafiabadand on the same day 3 person killed ,4 other injured in Doda accident
On 24, Sep: A man injured after hitting by light vehicle.
On 25, Sep: Two sisters dead and 2 injured after ambulance turns turtle in Qazigund.
On 26, Sep: A youth got killed in WarporaBudgam after his vehicle turned Turtle.
On 29, Sep: One person dead other injured when tipper rolled down in Magidararead of Ramban.
On 1, Oct: Pillion rider dies , biker sustain critical injuries after hit by tractor in Hatmullakupwara.
For last one decade, the government made tall claims to prevent such incidents. However, the government’s announcements have been confined to papers only. In April 2012, a committee headed by M Y Tarigami submitted a report to the government. It had come up with a slew of recommendations for the transport, traffic department, R&B, and other departments for curbing the growing road accidents. It had found increase in the number of vehicles, narrow and faulty roads, negligent driving, and ageing vehicles among the reasons for growing accidents in J&K. The government, in 2015, had set up a ‘Lead Agency’ to act as the nodal agency to coordinate all activities relating to the road safety in J&K. However, nothing has been done in this regard so far. Similarly, the government has also failed to set up trauma centres along the highway.
The government, in 2015, had set up a ‘Lead Agency’ to act as the nodal agency to coordinate all activities relating to the road safety in J&K. However, nothing has been done in this regard so far. Similarly, the government has also failed to set up trauma centres along the highway.
Steps to prevent road accidents:
1. Enforcement of traffic regulations and awareness regarding road safety measures is essential for preventing road accidents.
2. Awareness programs should be organised with the active involvement of youth so that they can sensitise their parents and friends regarding road safety measures and regulations which can help in improving the traffic management system of J&K.
3. Unique 3E’s formula regarding road safety measures i,e Engineering (proper road infrastructure) , Enforcement (of traffic rules ) and Education (Awareness among masses) need to be focused on for preventing traffic accidents.
4. Proper transparency in the schemes like Accident victim fund that gives a corpus of 1 Cr for the victim of road accidents.
5. RADMS (Road accident data management system) must work properly to ensure actionable inputs and prevent accidents.
6. In order to reduce fatalities and death’s effective post-crash response shall be a greater help as such creating network of Trauma Health care facilities on National and State Highways shall be the policy of Government.
7. In order to improve road safety it shall be the endeavour of the government to provide safe transportation, infrastructure, systematic improvement of safety for impaired /elderly and children shall be ensured during the mobility.
8. Operation of the smart transportation modes with GPS tracking system and CCTV’s by public, private transporters shall be encouraged.
9. Fine collected from traffic violators shall be used to improve roads.
10. To improve communication system available with police and other emergency services as a means to reduce time and to assist in planning and implementation of traffic Aid post scheme.
(The author is a student at AMU Aligarah and recently published his maiden novel “walking away -the unfinished part of me”. Views are his own)
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