‘Over-speeding is the biggest killer on Indian roads’

NEW DELHI: Over-speeding by car drivers continues to be the largest killer on Indian roads where more than 69% of the total fatalities recorded on roads have been due to over-speeding.
According to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways last week, around 1,07,236 people have lost their lives on various Indian roads due to over-speeding in 2021 alone, while more than 2,80,000 people have been left injured due to accidents caused by over-speeding. Combining the last two years’ data, i.e, 2020 and 2021, almost two lakh people have lost their lives in India in car accidents that happened due to over-speeding.
On Friday, Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant also met with an accident on Friday morning while going from Delhi to his hometown in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun and is grievously injured. Reportedly, Pant’s car was much beyond the permissible speed limit. He is currently being treated at the Max Hospital in Dehradun.
According to Uttarakhand Police, Pant’s car was heading from Delhi to Dehradun where he was going to celebrate New Year with his family and at around 5:30 am to 6 am, he reportedly dozed off when his car went and hit a divider and due to the speed of the car, the impact the car turnedturtle, after which it caught fire.
Road experts, law enforcement agencies and the Ministry have been repeatedly advertising and cautioning vehicle users not to over-speed as it is turning out to be the biggest killer in recent times.
Some even say that the number of people dying in road accidents every year is equivalent to 300 wide-body aircraft crashing every year.
The data from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways also reveal that two-wheelers constitute the largest number of road accident deaths in India. Every year, more than 45% of total road accident deaths are from two-wheeler users, where 69,385 people have lost their lives in 2021.
This is followed by pedestrians who are the next highest contributor with a share of 18.9% in 2021. While comparing it with states, Tamil Nadu accounted for the highest number of road accidents in India and it is also pertinent to mention here that Tamil Nadu has been accounting for high road accidents since 2017. This state alone recorded over 55,000 road accidents in 2021.
Tamil Nadu is followed by Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively in terms of number of road accidents. Delhi ranked 20 in terms of road accident ranking of states and has recorded 4,720 road accidents in 2021.
The report also highlighted that 16,937 people in 2021 were killed in road accidents as they were not wearing seat belts. The government has also been widely advocating the use of seat belts both in the front and the rear seat for a safer drive.Several state police have also been activated to enforce the wearing of seat belts even for the rear state and impose a penalty for those not wearing seat belts.
Earlier this year, industrialist Cyrus Mistry also lost his life in a car accident and it was reported that had he been wearing the seat belt, his life could have been saved.