Road Safety Council expresses concern

Bhubaneswar: Road accident fatalities in Odisha is increasing by 11% against the supreme court’s direction to reduce it by 10% every year. The fatalities rate grow at the national level a meagre 0.6%.

The State Road Safety Council chaired by transport minister Padmanav Behera Monday expressed serious concern over the high fatalities rate in Odisha.

The fatalities grew by 11% in 2018 as compared to 2017. In the January-May period of the 2019, the fatalities grew by 11.79%. The highest number of fatalities were reported from districts like Ganjam, Sundergarh, Khorda, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Angul, Sambalpur, Balasore and Koraput.

According to an official survery, 66% accident occurred due to overspeed, while 11% due to drunken driving. Accident occurred due driving on the wrong side is 9%, and use of mobile phone while driving is 5%. Two percent accident is due to red light jumping and others 7%.

The 1st meeting of the council for 2019 was attended by Agriculture Production commissioner Gagan Dhal, transport secretary G. Srinivas, law sercretary Sashikanta Mishra, DGP Rajendra Prasad Sharma, transport commissioner Anil Samal, additional DG CID & CB Santosh Upadhya, rail transport co-ordination commissioner Manoj Mishra, presidents of Odisha Bus Owner’s Association and Odisha Truckers Association besides senior journalist Dilip Kumar Bisoi.