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column

There is so much we can

do to save lives on roads

A for Road Transport & Highways, recently
journey of a thousand miles,
admitted that road accidents kill more Indi-
it is said, begins with a sin-
The LasT gle step. The smoother the ans than terrorism or left-wing extremism
path, the faster and safer one
that are usually cited as the biggest threats
Word Sadly, pedestrians in India are the most to the nation’s security — or epidemics.
may reach his destination.
“More people have died in road accidents
Abdul WAsey vulnerable road users. Going by the latest than in all the wars India has fought since
government data, around 56 people died 1947,” he said, referring to the five wars —
daily while walking last year. The same four with Pakistan and one with China —
report also highlighted that 133 two-wheel- with 10,253 troops officially killed in action.
er riders and around 10 cyclists were killed Comparatively, 15 times more Indians are
daily in road accidents in 2017. killed each year in road accidents.
As per the Road Accidents in India To make things better for roadsters, first
report of the Ministry of Road Transport thing must come first. And it is public infra-
and Highways for 2017, Tamil Nadu wit- structure that includes the design of roads,
nessed maximum number of pedestrian their quality and maintenance, and the
deaths (3,507) last year, followed by Maha- safety of public transport, among others.
rashtra (1,831) and Andhra Pradesh (1,379). The traffic system in the country also need
Similarly, in case of two-wheel-
er deaths, Tamil Nadu topped
the list with 6,329 fatalities fol- Pedestrians, in
lowed by 5,699 in Uttar Pradesh general, are the
and 4,659 in Maharashtra.
The official statistics raises poorest among road
concern on two fronts. One, users, who have least
the figures of death and injury
from accidents are generally protection in case of
viewed as an underestimate an accident or mishap
by experts. The Transportation
Research and Injury Preven-
tion Programme at IIT Delhi, to be overhauled to keep up with the phe-
for example, suggests that cu- nomenal increase in the volume of vehicles.
mulatively, road traffic injuries The process of introducing legislation for
recorded by the police are un- road safety, which has been in the making
derestimated by a factor of 20, for more than four years, should be fast-
and the ones requiring hospitalisation by a tracked The Motor Vehicles (Amendment)
factor of four. That way, the number of peo- Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2017. If
ple who suffered injuries in 2017 far exceeds cleared by the Rajya Sabha, it will be the first
the 4,70,975 figure reported by the Ministry. of its kind to extensively reform the existing
Secondly, pedestrians in general are the laws on road safety, the Motor Vehicles Act,
poorest among road users. As they have 1988. The Bill is most likely to rectify several
least protection, it makes them sitting ducks systemic issues by offering a uniform driver
for lawless and careless drivers behind the licensing system, protection to children and
wheels of cars, buses and trucks. Cyclists vulnerable road users, rationalising penal-
and two-wheeler users are also quite vul- ties, among other initiatives. Saving more
nerable as they too come from compara- people from road accidents is more impor-
tively weak economic background. It’s not tant than building more roads.
that the people in authorities are not aware
about the situation. Nitin Gadkari, Minister letters@tehelka.com

Tehelka / 15 november 2018 66 www.Tehelka.com

66 The Last Word-Abdul-Column.indd 2 02/11/18 11:45 AM