Altogether 122 persons lost their lives in 1432 road mishaps during the past two years from 2016 to 2017 in Nagaland while another 956 were injured during the same period.
This was informed by senior District Transport Officer (DTO) Yaongsanglee Chang here during the one-day workshop as part of the 29th National Road Safety week held here Monday.
Yaongsanglee also informed that there were 736 road accidents in different parts of the State in 2016 that claimed 59 lives and injured 501. In 2017 there were 696 road mishaps which led to 63 deaths and 455 injured. The DTO said maximum cases of road mishaps involved vehicle collisions which were settled out of court between owners of the vehicles. However, by letting the erring drivers go scot free, the drivers were not given an opportunity to learn about negligent, careless and rash driving, he lamented. This has therefore defeated the very purpose of the motor vehicles Acts and rules, enforcement agendas and road safety awareness campaigns.
Chang further pointed out that with vast improvement in vehicle technology, most road mishaps can be attributed to human negligence. He, therefore, urged the drivers to inculcate safe driving habits to ensure their own safety as well as of others by obeying traffics rules and signs, and thereby prevent accidents.
Organised by regional transport office here, the theme for the workshop was “Road safety – Life safety”. On the all-India level, Chang informed that road mishaps occur every minute in India, which add up to 5,25,600 major accidents in a year. He said the major accidents lead to 17 deaths every hour and 408 deaths every day, totalling 1,48,920 deaths in a year. Asserting that road safety was the most neglected subject, he stressed every individual is responsible to promote road safety.
In his brief address, extra assistant commissioner (EAC) Changsang said awareness programmes on total road safety should begin from educated section of society and cover general public too. He added that all VIPs, stakeholders and schools institutions should promote road safety.
Urging all drivers to maintain lane discipline and avoid rash driving and mobile phones to avoid distraction while driving, the EAC also appealed to bike riders to use helmets.
During the technical session, deputy superintendent (traffic) Philip Yanthan spoke on traffic management in the State Capital. He stressed that each and every individual was responsible to maintain civic sense and promote road safety.
Pointing out that all major road mishaps occurred due to negligence and carelessness, Yanthan urged all vehicles users to obey traffic rules. He called for inculcating proper driving etiquette, adding that responsible driving can reduce the number of mishaps on the road, besides easing traffic jams in the town.
He said for the State Capital to become a truly smart city, its residents should first become smart, including vehicle owners and drivers. He also called for application of common sense to help ease traffic congestion in the town.
In his address, motor vehicle inspector Engo Konyak spoke on road signs, penalties, etc.