Digboi: A survey reveals that of the five lakh road accidents reported annually, of which 1.5 lakh persons die, and 3.5 people sustain injuries leading to various disabilities, said Kanai Mahanta the District Transport Officer Tinsukia recently during a mobile Road Safety programme at Margherita in Tinsukia district.
Mahanta after assuming his office was addressing the pedestrians, bus owners and common people along the roadside raising road awareness among the people including vehicle staff of different categories.
The top transport official of the district on his maiden drive was accompanied by his team of transport department including road safety expert Ajit Singh who is also an enforcement staff beside Ranjit Kalita the inspector Enforcement wing of the DTO.
While stressing the need for the strictest adherence to the traffic rules and road safety awareness, Mahanta said that due to a lack of road safety awareness and being indifferent towards traffic norms, around 20 persons die every hour in India.
Citing that road mishaps have been a global issue, he said that being aware and alert while using the road is one of the crucial means to mitigate the loss.
“Our Safety lies in our own hands,” said the top transport officials while suggesting the same to the vehicle drivers and other staff adding ‘ a driver cautiously driving himself must also see that he is not impacted by others’ carelessness on the road.
Discarding the conventional and irrational belief in aligning road accidents to supernatural forces being the cause behind, Kalita said that 70 to 80 per cent of road accidents are caused by due fault of the drivers.
The keynotes of the official also centred around the five major reasons for road accidents which included overspeeding, rash driving, infringement of traffic rules, lack of understanding of traffic signs and symbols, physical or mental exhaustion and finally alcohol.
Meanwhile, during an exclusive with the correspondent, the DTO Tinsukia said that besides regulations and compliance, coordination and community engagements play a crucial role in drawing effective mechanisms for securing the ends in regard to traffic management and road safety.