The increasing number of road accident fatalities in the State has raised the eyebrows of many, including Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. In a no-nonsense approach, he called DCs and SPs of districts besides officials related to roads, highways, and the police top brass to seek collective wisdom in bringing down these numbers.
Any fatality is a matter of regret, but when the numbers are over 250 each month or over eight every day on average, this just cannot be business as usual. The Chief Minister took exception to the performance of many districts and did not hold himself back in letting them know that he was unhappy.
What emerged from the meeting is that in 2022, Assam had registered over 7,000 accidents in which 2,994 people lost their lives. These accidents may be the result of the coming together of many causes, but the outcome was always a tragedy of some sort or the other. Loss of limbs and life has long term repercussions on individuals, families and even the State.
Whereas it is known that rash and drunken driving is among the major causes of road fatalities, the absence of proper signage and manpower deployment in areas around what is called ‘Black Spots’ also contributes its bit to the overall numbers. Therefore, putting the blame squarely on the driver every time or the individual will be harsh to say the least.
At the same time, blaming bad roads and the ‘other’ will be missing the wood for the trees. Interestingly, it is the overlooking of the basics that results in accidents. Statistics from the State point out that 68% of accidents occur due to over-speeding, over 9% is because of drunk driving, and 3.6% is because of mobile usage. Despite repeated campaigns by Government and charitable organisations, if drivers overlook this fact, can one blame fate and traffic police?
