1.73 lakh people died in traffic accidents in India in 2021
According to the latest report of the recently released National Crime Records Bureau, the number of traffic accidents has increased from 3.68 lakh in the year 2020 to 4.22 lakh in the year 2021.
The number of deaths recorded due to traffic accidents also increased to 1.73 lakh in the year 2021. In the year 2020, this number was 1.46 lakh. 3 states (Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra) alone accounted for 33.3% of the total deaths.
Reasons responsible for the increase in the death rate in road accidents –
- Poor road-design and poor vehicular condition.
- Over speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
- Overloading to save the cost of transportation.
- Lack of awareness among people about the importance of road safety facilities etc.
- Lack of human resource for traffic management.
- Limited emergency healthcare to help within the golden hour further increases the mortality rate.
- According to the Motor Vehicles Act, golden hour is ‘a period of one hour after a traumatic accident. It is during this period that death is most likely to be prevented through immediate medical care.
Measures taken to increase road safety
- To tackle the problem of road accidents, the scheme ‘Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering’ (iRASTE) has been implemented.
- Lane-RoadNet (LRNet): It is a new framework to address the problems related to Indian roads.
- Deep learning is used in this. It is designed with an integrated mechanism considering the lane and road parameters.
- India is a signatory to the United Nations’ Brasilia Declaration on Reducing Road Accidents.
- The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 has been passed to improve the road safety scenario and reduce the loss of life and property.
Source- The Hindu
