Despite the lockdown, about 140 lives were lost due to 600 reported road crashes, according to data compiled by SaveLIFE Foundation, a not-for-profit in the road safety area. Speeding remains a common reason for accidents that led to deaths.
“India suffers the highest number of road crash deaths globally each year. Though there will be a dip in that number this year due to the lockdown, 140 deaths in over 600 crashes shows gains achieved will be lost as soon as things go back to normal,” said Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO, SaveLIFE Foundation in a release.
As per the data, the country recorded over 600 road crashes over the course of the two phases of the nation-wide lockdown (March 25-April 14 and April 14-May 3).
In the last five weeks, around 140 lives have been lost due to road crashes across the country, with over 100 deaths recorded in across nine states - Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
Migrant workers
Around 30 per cent of these victims were migrants travelling back home, it said in a release. Almost 57 per cent of the deaths were of people driving during the lockdown. The rest of the road crash deaths were of essential workers like doctors, among others who were travelling either from or to their place of work.
Although the suspension of public transport and general mobility has reduced fatalities and the number of road accidents, the rate of deaths (in percentage terms) has remained unchanged, highlighting how unsafe Indian roads are even when the majority of the country has been under restrictions.
“States must use the third phase of the lockdown to fix engineering faults in our roads and institute mechanisms for electronic enforcement so that when things become normal, we can keep road fatalities low. Safety should be prioritised while formulating SOPs for inter-State movement,” added Tiwari.