India can avoid tag of being world’s accident capital: SC

The year 2014 alone witnessed 2.37 lakh road accidents on national and state highways across the country which had left 85,462 people dead and 2.59 lakh injured.

These were the sensational findings in official statistics placed before the Supreme Court, which noted that as per 2009 data, India had reported the highest number of road accident fatalities in the world which clearly indicated that a road accident occurred every four minutes. India can avoid the tag of being the “accident capital of the world”, was how the apex court reacted on the figures of vehicular deaths over the past several years while stressing on the need for “proper enforcement” of law preventing drunken driving.

The apex court said proper enforcement of law was needed for a nation like India, which is on the cusp of economic development, to protect precious human lives from road mishaps specially due to drunken driving. The remarks were made by SC in its December 15 judgement by which it ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national and state highways while making it clear that licenses of the existing shops will not be renewed after March 31.

“Human life is precious. As the road network expands in India, road infrastructure being an integral part of economic development, accidents profoundly impact on the life of common citizen. For a nation on the cusp of economic development, India can well avoid the tag of being the accident capital of the world,” a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said.