ROAD ACCIDENTS IN INDIA

According to available information there were 1,50,785 accident deaths in 4,80,652 road accidents in India during 2016. In other words, there are 413 deaths and 1,317 accidents every day. It is equally important to find that there are 41 countries in the world which have population less than 1.5 lakhs. One can, therefore, gauge the gravity of the matter.

Let us get deeper into the subject. Total automobiles manufactured in India in 2016 was ,24,016,599 nos. This figure rose up to 25,316,044 in 2017. There is an increase of 5.41%.
Total registered vehicles as on 31.03.2015  were 21,00,23,289 nos. Total length of motorable roads in India as on 31st Mar 2016 was 
56,03,293 km. This makes an average of 1.42 km road length per sq.km of land.

Now let us find the number of vehicles per km of road in selected countries. Italy - 81, Germany - 80, UK - 76, Malaysia - 72, Japan -64, France - 39, Russia - 35, USA - 31, Saudi Arabia - 20, Brazil - 18,  Australia - 17, China - 12, Kenya - 10, Pakistan - 8 and India - 3. (These figures are between the years 2002-2007)

We will now see the fatalities on the road per 100,000 vehicles. Africa - 574, SE Asia - 101,  America - 33, Europe - 19. In some selected countries the figures are: Afghanistan - 722, Brazil - 50, China -104,  Denmark - 7, Ethiopia - 4984, Germany - 7, India - 130, Malaysia - 30, Nepal - 400, Pakistan - 283, UK - 5,
Switzerland - 5 and USA - 13.

From both the above comparison we can find that road accidents and the fatalities thereby are very high in India as far as the developed and developing nations are concerned. Prime reasons for road accident deaths are: Poor road conditions, poor condition of the vehicles, traffic system without discipline, driving under intoxication, improper use of seat belts, not wearing helmets while driving two wheelers. Though these are the general causes for accidents in other countries, we have few more reasons in India. We have about 1350
million people in India today. The managers of our country might be finding it too small to consider 1.5 lakhs out of these. Another reason is that anyone here can cause an accident and get off scot-free if he has sufficient money in his pocket or has the right political connection.

When there is a train accident or a natural calamity and a few people die or injured the politicians make too much of hue and cry and ask the ruling government to step down. Here, when over 400 people are died on the road every day no one even bothers to draw the attention of the rulers.

Now, each one of us may take a pledge that the road accident deaths in the country shall be brought down to zero and to achieve this to prepare the younger generation to our level best.

KV George