Thursday, 05 Dec, 2024
The accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao has once again highlighted the rising number of road accidents in the country. Image Source: IANS
The double-decker sleeper bus struck the milk tanker from behind while it was going from Motihari, Bihar, to Delhi on the Agra-Lucknow expressway
In the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, a sleeper bus collided with a milk truck on the Lucknow-Agra expressway on Wednesday morning, resulting in at least 18 fatalities and 19 injuries. The bus from Bihar to Delhi crashed with the tanker when it was trying to overtake, and the event occurred close to Gadha village. The impact of the collision caused the bus to overturn.
Officials said that the majority of passengers on the bus were migrant labourers. Everyone who was hurt has been taken to a neighbouring hospital to receive medical attention. Three of the 19 individuals are reportedly in a critical condition.
The double-decker sleeper bus struck the milk tanker from behind while it was going from Motihari, Bihar, to Delhi on the Agra-Lucknow expressway close to Gadha Village in the vicinity of the Behtamujawar Police Station. Police, under the command of Bangarmau Circle Officer Arvind Chaurasia, hurried to the scene and initiated rescue efforts as soon as they learned of the event.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed his condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased and directed the district administration to ensure the injured receive proper treatment. He also wished for their speedy recovery. Taking to the X, CM Yogi Adityanath said, "The loss of life in a road accident in Unnao district is extremely sad and heart-wrenching. My condolences are with the bereaved families. District administration officials have been instructed to reach the spot and speed up the relief work. I pray to Lord Shri Ram to give a place to the departed souls and provide a speedy recovery to the injured."
PMO on X said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a compensation of Rs two lakh for the dead and Rs 50,000 for those injured in the accident.
President Droupadi Murmu also expressed her condolences. "The news of the death of many people in a road accident on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh is extremely sad. I express my deepest condolences to the family members of those who have become victims of such sudden death and wish for the speedy recovery of those injured," The president said in a post on X in Hindi.
The accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao has once again highlighted the rising number of road accidents in the country. As compared to 2020, the number of road accidents rose by 17 percent in 2021, showing a rise in the rate of deaths per 1,000 vehicles in India. During the previous year 2020, country saw an unprecedented decrease in accidents, fatalities and injuries. This was due to the unusual outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and resultant stringent nation-wide lockdown particularly during March-April, 2020 followed by gradual unlocking and phasing out of the containment measures.
Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
In 2022, a total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by States and Union Territories, which claimed 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 persons. This marks an increase of 11.9 percent in accidents, 9.4 percent in fatalities, and 15.3 percent in injuries compared to the previous year.
During 2022, a total of 4,61,312 accidents were recorded in the country, of which, 1,51,997 (32.9 percent) took place on the National Highways (NH) including Expressways, 1,06,682 (23.1 percent) on State Highways (SH) and the remaining 2,02,633 (43.9 percent) on Other Roads. Out of the total of 1,68,491 fatalities reported in 2022, 61,038 (36.2 percent) were on National Highways, 41,012 (24.3 percent) were on State Highways and 66,441 (39.4 percent) were on Other Roads. Out of the total, 1,55,781 fatal accidents reported in 2022, 55,571 (35.7 percent) were on National Highways, 37,861 (24.3 percent) were on State Highways and 62,349 (40 percent) were on Other Roads.
During 2021 a total of 4,12,432 accidents were recorded, of which 1,42,163 (34.5 percent) were fatal accidents, 2,46,027 (59.7 percent) were injury (minor and grievous) causing accidents. Among injury causing accidents, 1,26,394 (30.6 percent) were grievous and 1,19,633 (29 percent) were minor injury causing accidents
Two-wheelers were involved in the most fatal road accidents in 2021 (69,240 fatalities), making up 44.5 percent of all deaths on the road, followed by cars (23,531 fatalities; 15.1 percent) and trucks/lorries (14,622 fatalities; 9.4 percent). The majority of two-wheeler-related killings were reported in Tamil Nadu (8,259 fatalities) and Uttar Pradesh (7,429 fatalities), accounting for 11.9 percent and 10.3 percent of all two-wheeler-related fatalities, respectively. However, there were a lot fewer accidents in 2021 as compared to 2019, when there were 4.37 lakh reported accidents and 1.54 lakh fatalities.
Two-wheelers (58,129 fatalities) contributed 43.6 percent of all fatal road accidents in 2020, followed by cars (17,538 fatalities) (13.2 percent) and trucks/lorries (16,993 fatalities) (12.8 percent). Between 2020 and 2021, Tamil Nadu reported the highest increase in the number of traffic accident cases (from 46,443 to 57,090), followed by Madhya Pradesh (from 43,360 to 49,493) and Uttar Pradesh (from 30,593 to 36,509). In 2018, around 1,52,780 people lost their lives in road accidents, out of 4,45,500 lakh accidents were reported.
Amongst the States, Tamil Nadu with 64,105 accidents (13.9 percent) recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2022 followed by Madhya Pradesh (54,432 i.e., 11.8 percent). Uttar Pradesh (22,595 i.e., 13.4 percent) topped the States in respect of the number of fatalities due to road accidents followed by Tamil Nadu (17,884 i.e., 10.6 percent).
The government has been taking several steps to prevent the road accidents. One of the steps was an amendment in the Motor Vehicle Act in 2019. The Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019 hikes the penalties for traffic violations, defective vehicles, juvenile driving, etc. It calls for the creation of a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, which would require all Indian road users to carry insurance coverage for certain types of accidents.
In spite of certain measures and steps taken by the government to prevent accidents, the number of road accidents in India continue to rise every year claiming more and more number of lives.
Meanwhile, in another incident that happened on Monday morning in Haryana's Panchkula district, a bus carrying at least forty people including some schoolchildren was overturned. The tragedy happened close to Pinjore town's Naulata village. The bus driver's over speeding was the cause of the collision, according to the authorities. In addition to this, overloading and bad road conditions have also been pointed out as contributing factors to the tragedy, as the bus was packed with more people than it could accommodate.
