On average, 18 accidents occur in Orissa every day and seven persons die, while nine persons sustain grievous injuries, and 16 persons suffer minor injuries. Broadly, 30 per cent of persons killed in the road accidents are below 30 years of age. This means that a large number of persons in prime of their youth die in road accidents. Lack of awareness on road safety is one of the major reasons behind so many road accidents. Human errors account for 90 per cent of all road accidents. It can take many forms: driving under the influence of alcohol, inexperience in driving, tiredness, and fault of road users, lack of awareness and non adherence to traffic and other safety rules. Environmental factors such as weather conditions (such as fog, heavy rain, etc.), road junction designs, and conditions of road surface account for 18 per cent of all road accidents. Mechanical failures cause 5.5 per cent of road accidents. Other major factors of road accidents include poor management and lack of enforcement of traffic rules. These include reported issuing of forged license, over loading vehicles, humps on roads where traffic plies at high speed. The government must play its role in educating people on road safety and enforcing traffic rules, while people must inculcate habits of traffic discipline for putting an end to frequent road accidents. Road safety education, especially for children, provision of modern road safety equipments, first aid points, compulsory wearing of helmets, computerization of vehicle and driving license, privatization of licensing and training are among key measures suggested. Accidents are always controllable. The rising concern for the accidents and the series of innovative preventive road safety measures help in a big way to minimize the severity of accidents. The committed efforts of both government and non government agencies would definitely create awareness on road safety and minimize the accidents (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E217780.
Abstract