Around one lakh accidents, which is almost 20 per cent of all road mishaps, take place every year due to overloading and overcrowding. Statistics with the Centre show that even last year, 99, 854 road mishaps occurred because of overloading, in which over 30,000 people were killed and 1.15 lakh injured.
Data with the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) shows that the highest number of accidents due to overloading happened in Tamil Nadu (20, 226), followed by Madhya Pradesh (12, 346), Andhra Pradesh (12, 016), Karnataka (10, 555) and then Maharashtra (8, 617).
Of the 30, 522 deaths that occurred due to overloading — Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of deaths (4, 486) — followed by TamilNadu (4,099), Maharashtra (2, 946), Karnataka (2, 341) and Madhya Pradesh (2,000).
“One of the major problems that have been bothering us for a long time is the menace of overloaded vehicles, which is not only increasing the accident rate but is also, damaging our road network. We need to pay serious heed to suggest measures to stop this menace,” said MoRTH Minister Oscar Fernandes recently while meeting the representatives from State Governments at the 35th Transport Development Council Meeting in Delhi.
The stakeholders reiterated the need to find a technological solution to prevent overloading by installing a device like “weight governor” in heavy vehicles. They expressed their inability to rein in the menace of overloading in the present situation.
Earlier this week, after a tyre company claimed to have produced a particular brand of tyre with a “70 per cent higher load-carrying capacity,” the All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners’ Association (ACOGOA) wrote to the association general secretary Chittaranjan Dass, stating, “You are very well aware that in our country goods vehicles particularly heavy and medium commercial vehicles carry 10 per cent to 200 per cent load above the registered laden weight (RlW) to the tune of 200 per cent of RlW in certain applications and areas.”
The letter said that in the larger interest of the transport trade overloading practices needed to be “curbed”, not only to improve the condition of roads but also provide greater safety and fuel efficiency. Overloading is a major reason for road damages and fatalities on roads.