Road accidents, fatalities decrease by 20.9%, ‘85% of road accidents can be prevented if traffic rules are followed’: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: In the past one year, from March 2023 to March 2024, the number of road fatalities in the state has gone down by 20.9%. This has been attributed to the preventive steps adopted by the state government.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Fatalities resulting from road accidents have long been a cause of concern. The government has constantly aimed at enhanced road safety, and due to our consistent efforts, there has been a reduction in road accidents and fatalities.”

According to official sources, from January to October last year, around 6,000 road accidents occurred in Assam, in which 2600 people died and around 5000 were injured. Around 85% of road accidents could have been prevented if people had adhered to safety rules. Road safety is not only the concern of the government. The people and other stakeholders should also take on the responsibility.

A retired engineer of PWD (Roads) said, “The main reasons for road accidents are overspeeding, drunken driving, distraction of the driver, not following traffic rules, etc., and these are all human errors. We have seen that around 70% of accidents happen due to overspeeding and rough driving. There are also faults in road construction.”

Sources said, “Compared to the road capacity, there are an excessive number of vehicles. In 2022–23, there were 45.81 lakh motor vehicles on the road. In 2001, the number of vehicles on the road was 2,017 per one lakh population, which increased to 14,681 per lakh in 2023. This means that the roads are getting congested from the increased number of vehicles on the road. Apart from this, the number of two-wheelers has seen tremendous growth, and 50% of the accidents happen to these two-wheelers.

The sources further said that the role of the traffic police leaves a lot to be desired. Their lackadaisical attitude contributes a lot to the occurrence of accidents, as they pointed out.

A senior official of the Transport Department, Gautam Das, said, “We are constantly conducting awareness drives on traffic rules around the clock and through the year. We are also conducting training for city bus drivers and cab drivers on traffic rules and road safety. But ultimately, it depends on the person behind the wheel to adhere to the traffic rules.”

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