Call on government to act on road accidents using approach taken to curb pandemic

With as many as 417 deaths on Indian roads every day, and road accidents in India contributing 12% of the global accidents, motor accidents in the country are at par with a pandemic, according to Washington DC headquartered International Road Federation (IRF), a global road safety body.

IRF says that road accidents in India could be effectively checked and handled with government support. It suggests that the government treat road accidents in the country along similar lines as the way it is containing COVID-19.

"During the year 2018 about 151,000 people died in 467,000 road accidents in India with an average of 417 fatalities per day. But with a few hundred cases of coronavirus being reported in the country, the entire central and state governments have woken up and taken preventable measures on war footing. IRF urges government to take similar steps to prevent fatal road accidents," said KK Kapila, President, Emeritus, IRF.

Most of the road accident deaths and injuries in the country are preventable by simple road safety solutions including wearing of helmets by two-wheeler drivers, promoting safer behaviour, proper marking of roads, reclaiming of sidewalks from encroachers, strict adherence to safety norms, and regular road safety audits to identify black spots, IRF says.

Source: Asia Insurance Review