Over 1.46 lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in 2015 - that's an average of 400 road deaths every day, according to road accident data released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The number is a 4.6 per cent increase in road accident fatalities from 1,39,671 in 2014 to 1,46,133 in 2015.
The provisional data was shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on May 2, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha in response to a question by Member of Parliament, Husain Dalwai. And the numbers certainly give India the dubious distinction of having the most dangerous roads in the world.
According to the data, 23 states and union territories reported an increase in the number of road accident fatalities. The total number of injuries due to road accidents rose from 4,93,374 in 2014 to 5,00,279 in 2015. The highest increase in road accidents in 2015 was reported from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, contributing 29.66 per cent to the total number of accidents recorded nationwide.
Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan recorded the highest number of fatalities in 2015. Together, these five states contributed 46.45 per cent of the total fatalities recorded nationwide the same year. Bihar recorded a total of 9,555 road accidents in 2015, just one less than 2014. However, number of road accident deaths in Bihar increased from 4,913 to 5,421.
Over the past ten years, more than 1.3 million people have been killed in road accidents in India. The government has already drafted a bill to introduce comprehensive legislation for road safety, but it has hit numerous roadblocks and is yet to be tabled in Parliament.
Just a day after the provisional data was revealed, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture tabled its 234th report in Parliament. The Standing Committee has recommended that the government must legislate a law and noted that "on non-controversial issues like safety; increase in penalty for unauthorized driving, minor driving, increase in the penalty for various kinds of traffic violations etc, the government should legislate the law."
On December 22, 2015, over 50 Members of Parliament across party lines had written to the Prime Minister expressing their support for the urgent introduction of a comprehensive road safety legislation.
What is the need of the hour is strict implementation of simple traffic rules - obeying basic rules, stop lights, signals and following prescribed speed limits. Legislation is only the first step towards reducing the avoidable loss of human lives. Implementation of traffic rules, even if it means slapping significant fines and penalties for traffic violators, could well be one of the first steps to act as deterrence.
