400 road deaths per day in India; up 5% to 1.46 lakh in 2015

NEW DELHI: Indian roads, which account for the highest fatalities in the world, became yet more dangerous in 2015 with the number of deaths rising nearly 5% to 1.46 lakh. This translates to 400 deaths a day or one life snuffed out every 3.6 minutes, in what an expert described as a "daily massacre on our roads".
The number comes as a wake-up call for the government, whose minister Nitin Gadkari has set a goal of reducing road fatalities by 50% by 2020.
According to provisional police data provided by states, Uttar Pradesh recorded the maximum number of road deaths (17,666), followed by Tamil Nadu (15,642), Maharashtra (13,212), Karnataka (10,856) and Rajasthan (10,510).
While the number of road fatalities increased in all big states, 10 smaller ones and UTs, including Delhi and Chandigarh, reported a decline. Assam registered the sharpest decline of 115 deaths in 2015 in comparison to the previous year, while fatalities dipped by 49 in Delhi.
The increasing number of fatalities and road crashes - up from 4.89 lakh in 2014 to over five lakh in 2015 - indicated how a slew of initiatives taken by the Centre and state governments for road safety had had little impact. The Supreme Court appointed panel on road safety has written to state governments to step up efforts to curb crashes and fatalities.
"We need a comprehensive legislation to deal with this daily massacre on our roads. Stronger law and better enforcement are the key to reduce crashes," said K K Kapila of International Road Federation.
Times View
Nothing should outrage a civilized country more than the avoidable loss of human life. When the scale of that loss is so huge — nearly 1.5 lakh a year and rising — our collective conscience demands action to prevent it. It is not as if what is needed is an impossible ask. Strict implementation of simple traffic rules and transport norms can go a long way towards drastically reducing these deaths. But if we let overloaded trucks ply with impunity on our highways, and reckless motorists jump red lights at whim, for instance, the dubious distinction of being the country with the largest number of road accident victims will remain ours.