The two bus accidents in less than 48 hours, which claimed the lives of 15 people, have once again cast the spotlight on the high incidence of road mishaps on mountainous narrow roads of Poonch and Rajouri. Unfortunately there is no end to repeated road accidents in Jammu and Kashmir and according to NCRB statistics over 1300 people were killed in 2021 alone.
Around 3,634 fatalities were reported in the 22,000 road accidents reported in Jammu and Kashmir between 2017-2020.
The consequences of a tragedy often endure long after the accident is over. According to a study by the World Bank on road accidents, every death in India caused by a road accident leads to the depletion of nearly seven months’ income in the households of poor families and pushes the victims’ kin into a vicious cycle of poverty and debt. The low-income rural households, predictably, are hit the hardest.
Road accidents occur due to multiple causes such as over-speeding, use of mobile phone, overloaded vehicle, vehicular condition, poor light condition, overtaking, neglect of civic bodies, weather condition, fault of driver, fault of pedestrian, driving on wrong side, defect in road condition, defect in condition of motor vehicle, automobile design, etc.
However, accounting for around 90% of all accidents, human error remains the primary cause for the accidents.
The large number of deaths in road accidents every year should raise an alarm bell among the policy-makers and the concerned agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of people travelling by road.
Annually, hundreds people lose their lives in accidents in J&K, a disturbing sign that should spur a targeted project on road safety, bringing together traffic police, vehicle safety, licences to the drivers, training issues besides post-accident care.
There is also a need to lay down engineering standards and complaints procedures that will help citizens hold the concerned to account. There is also the need for education, civil society cooperation and professional policing besides spirited enforcement of law including regarding wearing seat belts, against use of smartphones while driving, over speeding, wrong side movement and other violations. Targeted programmes must be devised and strict timelines set to prevent repeat of accidents. Otherwise the accidents will only claim lives and bring devastation.
There is also an immediate need for critical analysis of the road traffic accidents (RTAs) database for the last 5 years to identify black spots, clusters, stretches, causes, timings and collision types for working out specific remedies.
