Assam: Nearly 20 persons die every hour in India on road mishap; Tinsukia DTO Kanai Mahanta
DIGBOI: “Survey reveals that out of the 5 lakh road accidents reported annually in India, 1.5 lakh persons die while 3.5 sustain injuries leading to various disabilities,” said the Tinsukia District Transport Officer Kanai Mahanta, recently during a mobile Road Safety programme at Margherita in Tinsukia district.
Kanai immediately on assuming his office addressed the pedestrians, bus owners, and general people along the roadside raising road awareness among the people including vehicle staff of different categories.
The top transport official of the district on his maiden drive was accompanied by his team of transport department including a road safety expert Ajit Singh, who is also an enforcement staff beside the inspector Enforcement wing of the DTO, Ranjit Kalita.
While stressing upon the need of strictest adherence of the traffic rules and road safety awareness, Mahanta told that due to lack of road safety awareness and being indifferent towards traffic norms, around 20 persons die every hour in India. Citing that road mishap has been a global issue, he said that being aware and alert while using the road is one of the crucial means to mitigate the loss.
“Our safety lies in our own hand,” said the top transport officials while suggesting the same to the vehicle drivers and other staff adding “A driver cautiously driving himself must also see that he is not impacted by others’ careless on the road.”
Discarding the conventional and irrational belief in aligning the road accidents to supernatural forces being the cause behind, Kalita told that 70 to 80 percent of road accidents are caused due to fault of the drivers.
The keynotes of the official also centered around focussing the five major reasons of road accidents which included over speeding, rash driving, infringement of traffic rules, lack of understanding of traffic signs and symbols, physical or mental exhaustion and finally alcohol.
Meanwhile, during an exclusive with The Sentinel the Tinsukia DTO said that besides regulations and compliance, he expressed that coordination and community engagement help greatly in drawing effect mechanism for securing the ends in regard to traffic management and road safety.
Also Watch: