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Contemptible negligence

Kashmir Times. Dated: 9/25/2012 11:54:29 PM

Only stringent action can check accident rate

The statistics of past few years vis-à-vis an alarming increase in the death toll on account of accidents across the state are a disturbing pointer towards the contemptible apathy of the helmsmen towards lives of the ruled. The strife-torn state, which saw a lot of bloodshed resulting into loss of thousands of lives in the last two turbulent decades, is witnessing an unending spate of deaths in road mishaps, occurring almost on daily basis in one or the other part of its three regions. In fact, in the past few years, more people died and sustained critical injuries in accidents rather than in militancy related incidents.
The main causes behind the road accidents are mainly rash and negligent driving by errant drivers generally under the influence of alcohol and overloading in urban belts of the state. However in hilly districts, in addition to negligent driving, overloading, perilously dilapidated or simply non-existent roads and worn-out vehicles too contribute a great deal vis-à-vis rise in death rate on account of road mishaps. Nauseating fact is that in spite of identification of reasons by the successive regimes, there’s no check on dance of death on roads consuming innocent lives. Every now and then one encounters reports about passenger and private vehicles rolling hundreds or thousands of feet deep down the gorges along the killer roads of J&K including Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, head-on collisions between the vehicles etc. and the people losing their near and dear ones in a jiffy. After every major mishap, slew of promises are made by the politicians, assurances are renewed, yet nothing actually changes on the ground. As far as routine spree of accidents, which claim one or two lives on an average every day, are concerned, their toll is hardly seriously taken into count. Hardly the stringent actions are taken against the guilty and the trials against negligent persons are taken to their logical conclusion and thus dance of death on roads continues unabated.