Buses of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation are involved in accidents that took nearly 1,000 lives a year, averaging three deaths a day, said its Managing Director A.K. Khan.
Speaking at a seminar on ‘Road Safety’ organised by the Institution of Engineers (India) here on Friday, he, however, said that the fatal accident record of the APSRTC was the least when compared to all the 68 State Road Transport Undertakings in the country.
“We may boast of the best record, but the best is simply not enough, when we consider that A.P. has the highest number of fatal accidents in the country,” he said, without mincing words.
“With just one per cent of vehicles in the world, India’s contribution to fatal road accidents is a whopping 10 per cent. In absolute numbers, it means 1.5 lakh deaths a year from India alone, of the 1.5 million around the world and this needs to be addressed urgently. Neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are better off in road safety than India, but Pakistan is worse,” Mr. Khan said.
Goals needed
Additional Commissioner of Police-Traffic Amit Garg said it was imperative for all concerned to put their heads together and come up with short and long term goals.
Reeling out statistics of injuries and deaths in road accidents for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and thus far in 2013, he said there was no major difference.
He agreed with road safety engineers that engineering, education and enforcement were the three ‘E’s that would make a difference.
Past Chairman of the A.P. State Centre of the Institution of Engineers, S. Nagabhushana Rao presided. I.S.N. Raju, Convenor and S. Pradeep Reddy, Co-Convenor of the seminar explained the agenda for the two-day seminar.
