Safety awareness ‘weak’
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Chennai: Yet another road safety week has come. And it will be gone in a few days. Road-users and most of the 1.68 crore vehicle-owners will continue to flout rules to whatever possible extent they are capable of — from speaking over mobile phones while driving to jumping traffic signals and overspeeding, among other violations. Despite stern action and widespread awareness programmes, accident-related fatalities have been increasing in the state for over a decade and TN stands second among accident-prone states in India.
According to state transport department statistics, the number of accidental deaths has gone up by over 45 per cent in the past decade.
Road accidents shot up by 6.9 per cent and 8.3 per cent from 2009. Authorities say that accidents involving state-run buses have come down. “Due to various measures, fatalities involving STC buses have come down to 1,237 in 2011-12 from 1,599 in 2007-08. Besides, drunken driving has also come down owing to stringent measures,” said transport minister Senthil Balaji. The state is taking various measures, including improving the driving skills of licence applicants by improving the facilities in RTOs which would yield better results in the long run, he pointed out.
Civic activists attribute lack of awareness and the lackadaisical attitude of motorists besides poor road engineering by the authorities. “Roads are not designed scientifically to accommodate pedestrians. Helmet-less driving, drunken driving doesn’t seem to have reduced though the authorities claim stern action has been taken against such offenders,” laments Senthil Kumar, a member of NGO Fifth Pillar.
Motorists observe traffic rules only at the time of obtaining driving licences at RTOs. With issuance of licence becoming a mere formality, accidents have become a routine affair, he adds.
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