Road accidents caused almost three times more deaths in Jharkhand than Covid-19 in 2020 despite several months of lockdown that led to a significant fall in volume of traffic, data compiled by the Road Safety Authority and the National Health Mission (NHM) reveals.

As per the latest report of the authority, as many as 3,044 people died in road accidents in Jharkhand from January 2020 to December 2020. As per figures compiled by the NHM, Covid-19 claimed as many as 1,025 lives – around one-third the number of road accident fatalities – in the state until December 31.

In 2020, as many as 4,377 road accidents occurred in Jharkhand, according to data with the Road Safety Authority. While 3,044 people died in these accidents, as many as 3,303 people sustained injuries. At least 39 per cent of the accidents involved two wheelers, 18 per cent involved four wheelers and 16 per cent involved heavy vehicles.

As per the data, at least 92 per cent of the accidents occurred due to speeding, 2 per cent occurred due to drunk driving, 4 per cent due to driving on the wrong side while 1 per cent accidents occurred due to traffic signal violations.

While Covid-19 caused the highest deaths in East Singhbhum, Khunti reported the highest number of road accident fatalities in 2020, as per government data. Ranchi was the second worst-affected in terms of fatalities caused in road accidents and also the second worst-hit in terms of Covid casualties.

The Covid mortality rate in Jharkhand on Saturday was 0.90 per cent against the national average of 1.40 per cent. The state has reported 62 more Covid fatalities in 2021, taking the total count of Covid deaths in Jharkhand to 1,087, as per NHM data.

The Hemant Soren-led government has taken several initiatives to put a check on road accidents and save lives of people who sustain injuries in such mishaps. Last month, the state Cabinet launched a Good Samaritan Policy that aims to reward life savers in cases of road accidents and allows them to take accident survivors to hospital without having to disclose their own identity to the hospital authorities or police.

“We are consistently working on our policies to curb road accidents and deaths on roads. New policies are also being framed to support kin of accident victims,” said state disaster management minister Banna Gupta, who is also the health minister.

The state government is also planning to set up trauma centres in all 24 districts. Currently, there is only one level-1 trauma centre at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi, one level-3 trauma centre each in Hazaribagh, Garhwa and East Singhbhum. And three more level-3 trauma centres are being constructed at Ghatshila, Koderma and Lohardaga.