Over-speeding killed 5K in 2019

Vadodara: ‘Speed thrills, but kills’ goes the popular saying but for Gujaratis, speed is the adrenaline when in driving seat. Incidentally, over-speeding is the major cause for the higher number of fatal accidents in the state.
The recently released report of National Crime Records Bureau on accidental deaths and suicides in India show that of 7,428 people who died in road accidents, 5,739 people died due to over-speeding in Gujarat last year. Dangerous or careless driving also led to deaths of 972 people. Interestingly, although the prohibition cases are highest on the crime charts in case, fatal accidents caused due to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs were only 41 across the state.
Gujarat has large network of national highways, but maximum fatal accidents took place on state highways as 2,164 people died while 1,942 people died in accidents that took place on national highways, 42 people died on expressways and 3,280 people died on other roads.
“Over-speeding is the major reason because that is mentioned by the complainant in the FIRs. But we have invested in infrastructure so that commuters do not drive beyond the permissible speed limits,” said J J Chaudhari, deputy superintendent of police of State Traffic Branch.
He added that the state police had just 50 speed guns so far, but an approval has been received for procuring 212 more speed guns. “In all districts special cameras have also been placed which can detect the speed of a vehicle so if somebody is found over-speeding an e-challan gets automatically issued to the commuter.”
“If a biker is riding candidly on a village road connected to the highway, there have been instances where the biker continued to ride like that on the intersection too without anticipating a heavy or speeding vehicle approaching. This leads to road accident,” said Satyen Kulabkar, a traffic expert and member of Road Safety Council in Vadodara.