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| Roads are lifeline | | | Roads are lifeline for a mountainous place like Jammu and Kashmir. People depend heavily upon the road connectivity but unfortunately road accidents have increased leading to loss of lives and causing permanent disability to some for lifetime. The consequences of a tragedy often endure long after the mishap is over.
Road accidents occur due to multiple causes such as over-speeding, use of mobile phone, drunken driving including consumption of alcohol, drug or overloaded vehicle, vehicular condition, poor light condition, jumping red light, overtaking, neglect of civic bodies, weather condition, fault of driver, fault of pedestrian, driving on wrong side, defect in road condition, defect in condition of motor vehicle, automobile design, etc.
According to a study every death in India caused by a road accident wreaks havoc with poor families and pushes victims’ kin into a vicious cycle of poverty and debt. The low-income rural households, predictably, are hit the hardest.
The need of the hour is to lay down engineering standards so that the people constructing the roads can be held accountable. In absence of a proper mechanism for people handling these roads it’s difficult to fix the responsibility after any accident occurs.
Besides, awareness needs to be created about the road safety measures that people need to follow. There is also a need for education, civil society cooperation and professional policing besides muscular enforcement of law through tougher penalties for seat belts, drunken driving, smartphone use and other violations. Otherwise the carnage will only increase.
Most accidents take place in rural areas there is a need for analyzing and micro-manage the accident-prone stretches. In these areas, most mishaps involve vehicles rolling down the mountainous stretches. Remote areas have the problem of less number and frequency of buses and other vehicles. All this may lead to overcrowding, increasing the chances of an accident.
Also, the plying of commercial vehicles should be monitored carefully. The training of drivers and the vehicle’s road-worthiness must be ensured to prevent accidents. Climate factors like landslides that block roads along with heavy rains and snow also result in roads get damaged, leading to the loss of precious lives. Dilapidated roads and the negligence of drivers result in death and disability which need to be ruled out by undertaking special initiatives. Road accidents can be reduced if the proper measures are taken. |
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