Roads in Assam have virtually become a death trap with the rising numbers of casualties in road accidents. According to the state’s traffic police records, on an average, over 11 road accidents and four deaths were recorded daily between January and July last year in the state.

The police records said between January and July 2019, at least 2,359 incidents of road mishaps were recorded in the state in which some 928 people were killed and 1,980 others suffered critical injuries.

State police in its report, An Analytical Glimpse on Road Accidents in Assam, said altogether 2,966 people were killed and 7,373 others suffered critical injuries in some 8,248 accidents in Assam in 2018.

A senor policeman, citing the records, said, “The worrying trend is that despite emphasising road safety measures and traffic awareness drives, there has been a constant rising trend in road accidents in the state. Road accidents in Assam had risen by almost 15 per cent in 2018 over 2017.”

In 2017, the state recorded over 6,805 road accidents.

The official also highlighted that almost half of these road accidents had occurred on the national highways while some 25 per cent of them had taken place on the state highways and other roads.

“The state government has developed the Assam Road Safety Action Plan, involving all stakeholder departments under the ‘five pillars’ method of road safety to address the issue of fatal and serious road accidents. The pillars include road safety management (institution and capacity building), safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users through education, awareness as well as the enforcement and prompt emergency care,” said a source in the public works roads department (PWRD).

Working in tandem with the state police department, the PWRD has identified 16 “black spots’ on highways in the state. “Most of these black spots were located in Kamrup, Dibrugarh and Cachar districts. Short-term mitigation measures like retro-reflective road signs, road markings, rumble strip, speed breakers and delineators are on,” the official added.

Ajoy Hazarika, the secretary of the Consumer Legal Protection Forum (CLPF) who has been working on road safety, added, “Studies have revealed that in more than half of the cases, the casualties were from the age group of 14-35 which is the prime productive age group. These were caused because of high speed, breaking traffic signals, not wearing helmets or seat belts and drink driving, among other causes.”

On Saturday, three persons died when the vehicle they were travelling in hit a culvert railing and fell into a pond and capsized near Changsari in Kamrup district.

On February 4, seven persons died when a bus coming from Dhubri to Guwahati lost control, hit an electric pole and fell into a roadside ditch on National Highway 17 at Dhupdhara Kothakuthi in Goalpara district.