Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Oct 10: Arunachal Pradesh is ranked second among the Northeast states, with 14 deaths in 2016 due to non-use of safety devices, like helmets and seat belts.
This report is according to the ‘Road Accidents in India 2016’, published by the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Leading the list in deaths due to non-use of safety devices in the Northeast is Meghalaya with 18 deaths in 2016.
Other Northeast states of Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura reported zero such cases.
Earlier in 2015, Arunachal stood at the top of pothole induced accidents of all North Eastern states, followed by Manipur. However, the new 2016 report claimed that Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura had no accidents induced by potholes.
Assam, which had 24 accidents caused by potholes in 2015, saw a leap of 43 pothole induced accidents in 2016.
There were 10,876 cases of road accidents caused by potholes across the country in 2015, which came down to 6424 in 2016.
Although there has been a 4.1 percent decrease in road accidents in 2016 as compared to 2015, the total percentage of death caused by road accident has risen to 3.2.
While fault of driver, other vehicles, pedestrians were some of the top causes of accidents in the country, defect in road condition, falling of boulders and neglect of civic bodies also accounted for a majority of accidents in Arunachal and the rest of the northeast.
Arunachal has reported lower accidents in general, but that is primarily because of the population factor.
Potholes and sinking zones have become everyday threats, and the failure to bring up effective measures has multiplied the probability of road accidents in the state where road accidents and related deaths are already quite high.
While monsoons and other weather conditions may lead to dilapidated roads, many people opine that it is due to the indifferent and irresponsible attitude of the state government and department concerned for little or no maintenance of roads.
