DEHRADUN: As many as 80 per cent road fatalities can be prevented in Uttarakhand if the people become responsible for their safety on the roads, observed the health experts.
Road accidents in Uttarakhand are almost two times more fatal than road accidents in rest of the country.
For the prevention of road accidents in the state, serious efforts will have to be made at the government level and public at large need to be made aware about their safety on the roads in the hill state.
This revelation on road safety came to the fore at a Road Safety Dialogue organized at the Uttaranchal Press Club on Sunday.
The discussion was organized by SDC Foundation, Uttarakhand Dialogue and Sardar Bhagwan Singh University.
Talking about the road fatalities and its social cost, renowned Neurosurgeon Dr. Mahesh Kuriyal said in his presentation that 80% road accidents and 80% deaths can be prevented if people become responsible for their safety on the roads.
For this, along with strict adherence to traffic rules, there is a need to improve the behavior regarding helmet, seatbelt, bike and overspeed.
India has one percent of the world's vehicles while 10 percent of the world's road accidents happen in India. This is a particularly big challenge for Uttarakhand.
Anoop Nautiyal, founder of SDC Foundation said that along with people's behavior and following traffic rules, there is a need to make the government machinery accountable on the issue of road safety.
Lack of public transport in hilly and rural areas is also a major reason behind accidents due to overloading in Uttarakhand. It is the responsibility of the government to fix it, he said.
Every year about one thousand people die in road accidents in the state but the government is not able to move ahead beyond sympathy, compensation and ordering investigation.
On this issue, the state government should launch a mission like Tamil Nadu by taking all the concerned departments and people together, so that these accidents can be reduced.
Sharing her experiences about road accidents, Public Relations Officer of SDRF, Inspector Lalita Negi said that efforts are being made at the government level to increase awareness about following traffic rules, not driving after drinking alcohol etc.
The efforts of the administration will be successful only with public participation on this issue.
Giving the example of his college, Principal of Chaman Lal (PG) College, Dr. Sushil Upadhyay suggested that if students are not allowed to enter colleges without helmets in the entire state, it can also make a difference.
He also described the lack of means of transport and bad roads in rural areas as a big challenge in preventing road accidents.
Ajit Singh, founder of Uttarakhand Dialogue said the way the number of passengers is increasing in Uttarakhand, the load of vehicles on the roads is increasing.
But according to this, the issue of road safety does not appear in the priority of the government, he remarked.
Participating in the road safety dialogue, Rajesh Dobriyal raised the question of non-appearance of investigation reports after road accidents.
Jagmohan Mehndiratta raised the issue of political interference in following traffic rules.
Dr. Girish Lakhera, Dr. Avinash Chandra Joshi, Laxmi Negi, Pankaj Kshetri, Pyare Lal, Praveen Upreti and students of paramedical course of Sardar Bhagwan Singh University participated in the dialogue.
