Road Safety - A National Concern
As it is truly said, “Accidents don’t happen, they are caused.” Road safety is a topic, which often gets neglected by most of us. In India, this year instead of "RoadSafety Week", a month-long campaign "National Road Safety Month" is being observed from 18th January to 17th February 2021. The theme of this year is, "Sadak Suraksha- Jeevan Raksha".
Road accidents continue to be a leading cause of death, disabilities, and hospitalization in India despite concerted efforts by the government. Over 400 people are killed in road accidents and over 1,200 injured every single day in India.
It is an alarming statistic that India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across 195 countries and accounts for almost 11% of the accident-related deaths in the world. As per the Road Accident Report for 2019, 4,49,002 accidents took place in the country during CY2019, leading to 1,51,113 deaths and 4,51,361 injuries. These numbers are an outcome of our lax attitude towards road safety. (
Compare that to the deaths in India due to Covid-19, which stands at almost 1.55 lacs over the past year. Almost similar numbers, which is 1.5 lacs individuals died due to road accidents in the same year. But the steps taken for awareness on road safety have been lukewarm compared to the awareness that Covid-19 has generated. And unlike Covid-19, road safety does not require any vaccine, but only awareness and alertness.
It is a matter of serious concern that in the last 5 years total deaths due to road accidents were around 7.5 Lacs, approx 1.5 lacs every year. State-wise, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents (57,228) in 2019 while the highest numbers reported as killed in 2019 were in Uttar Pradesh (22,655). Both these states have maintained their leads in terms of the number of accidents and number of persons killed since 2016 despite the several road safety initiatives taken by both the Central and State governments.
Road safety is everyone’s prerogative and should be diligently followed. Rules like wearing a seatbelt, avoiding overspeeding, driver and pedestrian education, no drunken driving, etc. must be followed by one and all.
Raising awareness on road safety issues along with the strict enforcement of these rules should be done at all levels. As a responsible corporate entity, Steelbird International not only creates superlative products to ensure the safety of people on road but also undertakes periodic road safety campaigns with mechanics and drivers to enable them to act responsibly and be aware of these safety rules.
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