Many assume the abbreviation RTI stands only for Right to Information, a powerful tool used to get the Government divulge information.
But not many know that there is another RTI – Road Traffic Injuries – that is taking away many lives every year.
Every minute there is a road accident, and every 3.7 minutes there is a death due to road traffic injuries, which is responsible for most number of deaths and disabilities in India in 2011 (latest available Government data).
The worrying factor is that nearly 30 per cent of the deaths were of people in the age group of 15-24.
According to the latest report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, there were 4.97 lakh accidents in 2011, in which 1,42,485 people died. Uttar Pradesh leads the table with the maximum number of deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Gradual increase
Data show that there has been a gradual increase in accident severity, which refers to persons killed in every 100 accidents.
In 2002, the accident severity was 21 (in other words for every 100 accidents, 21 died), and touched an all time high of 28.6 in 2011.
The Ministry’s 2012-13 annual report said that the National Road Safety Policy has envisaged setting up a dedicated agency – National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board – to oversee the road safety activities in the country.
This is under consideration in consultation with States and Union Territories.
Sarvey Sathyanarayana, Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, told the Lok Sabha last month that the Ministry had adopted a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on four Es: education, enforcement, engineering (roads as well as vehicles) and emergency care.