12 die on Kerala roads everyday

Alappuzha: The roads in the state continue to be death traps with accidents claiming a heavy toll of lives. On an average, 12 people die on the roads daily while 3,375 people were killed, 24,489 sustained serious injuries and 10,020 minor in 30,784 accidents till September this year.

Thiruvanathapuram district topped the list with 413 deaths followed by Ernakulam 355 and Thrissur 319 during the period, according to the State Crime Records Bureau.

A total of 3,186 fatal, 22,178 grievous, 4,447 minor and 973 non-injury accidents were registered in the state. Rash driving caused 2,796 accidents killing 2,349 people while drunk driving resulted in 16 cases of fatal accidents.

Last year, the state witnessed 4,303 deaths in 40,181 accidents, recording an average of 11 deaths daily.

Road deaths continue to rise in spite of implementing the amended MV Act, extending the 108 Ambulance services across the state and introducing emergency medicine departments in the medical colleges in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kottayam.

India has a poor road safety record with 1,47, 913 people dying in 2017 alone. But the government is yet to constitute the National Road Safety Board (NRSB) to ensure road safety as recommended by the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019.

The NRSB will advise the governments on traffic management, standard of design, manufacturing process, operation, maintenance of motor vehicles, road safety, infrastructure and traffic control. It will also manage programmes for educating drivers and other road users.

Mr Upendra Narayanan, road safety expert, has suggested the formation of a dedicated investigation team to analyse the root causes of accidents and suggest solutions, including design of roads.