The major cause of road accidents in India is automobiles. In the year 2022, 1,55,672 people died in road accidents in India. This comes to 430 people per day. The death toll in Odisha per day is 14 persons, stated the speakers at the 72nd webinar of the Thinkers’ Club here.
The meeting was attended by lawyers, journalists, senior citizens and intellectuals.
District Transport Officer Sajay Behera was the key speaker of the meet. Behera presented some statistics on road accidents in the country with special reference to the State. He said, the authorities are taking steps to eradicate the menace of accidents by which valuable life and property can be saved.
The authorities have installed CC cameras on the highway at a gap of 5 km. Those who are violating the rules are heavily penalized as a measure of control. Awareness of road safety is taught to students in the 10+ level classes. The Motor Vehicle Act has been suitably amended so that a person who brings an injured person to hospital is not harassed by police, he informed.
Dilip Roy, founder member of the Odisha Road Safety Society and ex- Additional Director of the Department of Statistics was of the opinion that if the citizens are made conscious of road safety measures from the grassroots, it will reap better results in the long run. He expressed his satisfaction over the steps taken by the Department of Road Transport.
Barada Prasanna Das coordinated the meeting. Binode Mohanty from Oman, Subash Das from Baharin, Bishop DB Hrudaya, Dr Nanda Nandan Das, Bibhudutta Mohanty from Bangalore and Prof Umasankar Misra discussed some aspects of road safety from their day-to-day experience.