File photo used for representaton

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka seem to be spoiling the government’s target to reduce road fatalities while Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have put a check on such deaths, according to the data shared by the states for the first quarter of 2018 (January-March) with the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.

Overall the number of fatalities increased from 37,015 during the first quarter of 2017 to 37,618 during the same period in the current year. Just UP itself reported 737 more deaths as compared to last year with Gujarat and Maharashtra also seeing a major rise in road fatalities. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu reported 877 fewer deaths, which is the sharpest decline in numbers, followed by Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

The trend is alarming considering that the number of total deaths in 2017 had reduced by 3%, which had brought some relief to the government. TOI on February 8 had first reported how nearly 1.48 lakh people were killed in road accidents last year in comparison to 1.51 lakh in 2016.

An analysis of the official road death data from 2014 to 2017 shows that UP and Madhya Pradesh have been leading nearly half a dozen states, which have continuously reported more road deaths on an year-on-year basis. In UP, road fatalities have increased from 16,287 in 2014 to 20,124 in 2017.

Speaking at an event organised by India chapter of International Road Federation on Friday, road transport secretary Yudhvir Singh Malik had flagged how high number of deaths and that too almost 74,000 people in the age-group of 15-25 years killed on Indian roads last year should be a matter of worry for engineers, policy makers and enforcement agencies.

“Only a dozen states have more than 80% share of all road fatalities. Four of these states account for almost 40% of the total deaths and so we know where we need to put more focus to halve our road deaths,” said IRF chief K K Kapila.

India has maintained the dubious distinction of registering maximum number of road deaths across the globe as still a large section of people believe road accidents are linked to “fate”. Countries that have taken steps after analysing the exact causes of this scourge such as Japan, Australia and Sweden, have brought down their road fatalities drastically.

