About 140 lives lost in 600 road accidents during lockdown: Report

About 140 lives were lost in over 600 ro accidents over course of two phases of nationwide lockdown between March 24 and May 3, according to a report by SaveLIFE Foundation.

Of this count, 30 per cent of victims were migrant workers returning to ir homes, said report by n-profit organisation which underlined over-speeding on empty ros as one of most common reasons for deaths across states.

India accounts for one of highest ro crashes fatalities across globe with annual 5 lakh accidents in which 1.5 lakh people are killed.

" country recorded more than 600 ro crashes over course of two phases of nationwide lockdown (24th March till 14th April and 14th April to 3rd May)," as per data compiled by SaveLIFE Foundation.

During last five weeks, around 140 lives have been lost due to ro crashes across country, with over 100 deaths recorded in across 9 states alone with maximum 42 deaths taking place in Punjab, followed by 26 in Kerala and 18 in Delhi, it said.

"Furr analysis of se ro crash deaths reveals that around 30 per cent of se victims were migrants travelling back home. Almost 57 per cent of deaths were of people driving during lockdown. most common causal factor across se crashes was speeding," report said.

Tragically, rest of ro crash deaths were of essential services workers including doctors, who were travelling eir from or to ir place of work, it said.

states which recorded maximum accidents are Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Punjab and Tamil Nu.

report said while re has been a dip in absolute number of ro crash fatalities during lockdown due to suspension of public transport and general mobility, rate of deaths in ro crashes has remained unchanged.

However, comparative data for last year was t available with n-profit body.

As per latest data of ro accidents with Ministry of Ro Transport and Highways, number of people killed on Indian ros recorded a rise of 2.37 per cent to 1.51 lakh in 2018 and 70 per cent of victims fell in bracket of 18-45 years.

A total of 1.47 lakh people were killed in ro crashes in 2017, according to annual report 'Ro Accidents in India, 2018' brought out by ministry's transport research wing.

"Ro accidents in country have increased marginally by 0.46 per cent during 2018 with year seeing 4.67 lakh ro accidents as against 4.64 lakh in 2017," ministry said.

government in Parliament h said that post implementation of new Motor Vehicles Act on September 1, 2019, deaths in ro accidents reduced drastically in some states and union territories including Chandigarh, which saw a 75 per cent dip in fatalities in September and October 2019.

Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO, SaveLIFE Foundation, said, “India suffers highest number of ro crash deaths globally each year. Though re will be a dip in that number this year due to lockdown, 140 deaths in over 600 crashes goes to show gains achieved will be lost as soon as things go back to rmal."

He said third phase of lockdown is a golden opportunity for states to fix engineering faults in ros and institute mechanisms for electronic enforcement so that when things become rmal, ro fatalities can be kept at low.

National highways, which comprise 1.94 per cent of total ro network, accounted for 30.2 per cent of total ro accidents and 35.7 per cent of deaths in 2018.

State highways, which account for 2.97 per cent of ro length, accounted for 25.2 per cent and 26.8 per cent of accidents and deaths, respectively.

Or ros that constitute about 95.1 per cent of total ros were responsible for balance 45 per cent of accidents and 38 per cent deaths.

According to transport ministry report, in terms of accident-related killings by of ro users, number of pedestrians killed accounted for 15 per cent, share of cyclists was 2.4 per cent and that of two-wheelers was 36 per cent.

Over-speeding proved to be a major killer, accounting for 64.4 per cent of persons killed followed by driving on wrong side of ro which accounted for 5.8 per cent of accident-related deaths.