Wary of an alarming rise in road accident deaths inOdisha, theCentrehas urged chief ministerNaveen Patnaikto consider adopting a road safety model ofTamil Naduthat has succeeded in reducing accident fatalities by 54% in the last five years.
It must be noted that road accident-related deaths have increased by nearly 21% from 2014 (3,931 deaths) to 2019 (4,738 deaths) in the state. This despite theSupreme Courtcommittee on road safety directing the to bring it down by 50% by 2020. The fatality rate (death per hundred accidents) is about 48.2 % in Odisha in 2019, much higher than the national Average of 36.6%.
The number of accident deaths increased to 1877 between January and April this year from 1,471 during the corresponding months in 2020, taking the rise to a disturbing 27.60%. According to the transport department, the accident fatality rate increased abnormally by 25% in the first half this year as compared to the first six months of 2020, despite the Covid-induced lockdown.