NGO Jan Aakrosh Members Road Safety Nagpur
Nagpur: The death of eight persons in a highway accident in Bhandara district on Friday prompted road-safety NGO Janakrosh to appeal to motorists to slow down, with the organisation citing govt data that puts speed behind over 70% of fatal road accidents in India. According to the Road Accidents in India 2024 report of the Union ministry of road transport and highways, over-speeding accounted for 70.28% of all road accident deaths in the country last year, and its share of both accidents and deaths rose over 2023 even as fatalities linked to drunken driving, wrong-side driving, red-light jumping and mobile phone use fell.
Ramesh Shahare, senior member of Janakrosh, said even some city roads in Nagpur see motorists driving at highway-level speeds, which he called dangerous given the mix of pedestrians, two-wheelers and slow-moving traffic on such stretches. Sahare said “ People need to understand that staying within the permissible speed limits and exceeding it can be the difference between life and death. Shahare said the decline in Nagpur’s numbers is welcome but should not lead to complacency. The goal has to be zero fatalities, and we cannot afford to relax our efforts until we get there,” said Sahare.
“India ranks first in the world in the number of road accidents, and that alone tells us how much work remains to be done. A falling death count is not the goal. Janakrosh has been conducting road-safety awareness campaigns in Nagpur and has repeatedly flagged speeding, wrong-side driving, dangerous overtaking and failure to maintain a safe distance as recurring causes of accidents on city roads. Among its recommended fixes are heavier fines for over-speeding, mandatory speed governors on vehicles, speed breakers at accident-prone spots, stricter CCTV-based enforcement and sustained driver counselling.