With 42 lives being cut short in every 100 accidents last year, Odisha figured 8th among the major non-hilly States in the country where accidents turn out to be more fatal. Notably, Odisha occupied the dubious number 3 after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to record most accidents owing to drunken driving. Driving under influence of alcohol accounted nearly 12 per cent of road accidents in the State last year.
This enormity looks quite grave when highly motorised States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh recorded around 25 to 35 fatalities per 100 accidents in 2016.
Rural Odisha had borne the brunt with almost 59 per cent of fatal accidents in 2016. This was so when rural Odisha accounted for around 57 per cent of total accidents in 2016. This revelation of sort from the accidents statistics for 2016 released on Wednesday by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways opens the whole gamut of traffic management, which currently is limited to urban areas or its peripheries only.
According to the report ‘Road Accidents in India-2016’, when Odisha recorded around 29 accidents per day, as many as 11 accidents turned out fatal. Comparably, when total accidents in 2016 in the State dipped marginally, fatal accidents increased by around 5 per cent and , overall, fatal road accidents in the State have grown by around 16 per cent in last four years.
Speed is killing big in Odisha. High speed and competitive speed to overtake took around 81 per cent of the fatality burden. So, traffic management involving regulation of speed of vehicles could bring wonders for the State as the data show over 51 per cent of fatalities occur in uncontrolled areas last year.
Sample this: When around 30 per cent of the road accidents in Odisha last year have been due to vehicular defects, a whopping 68 per cent accident could have been minimised had there been a regulation on the speed of the vehicles. How speed and loss of control is playing spoilsport is evident from the fact that nearly 6,548 accidents happened either during overtaking, overturning or traffic negotiation.
More startling facts: Odisha is 3rd nationally in recording accidents where mobile phones proved to be the killer cause. And the most accident prone sites in the State are junctions: T, Y or 4-square or round junctions as they accounted for over 52 per cent of the fatal accidents in 2016.
Motorbikes have emerged as the single-largest vehicle responsible for accidents as in 2016 the State saw a whopping over 33 per cent of fatal accidents where bikes emerged as the main culprit. Added to this, single lanes in Odisha shared the most burdens as they recorded a big 54 per cent of fatality on roads in 2016.