The rise in number of deaths on roads has recently seen an uptrend. Cutting down completely the number of deaths on roads may not be possible but these can be brought down to bearable level. The toll points towards the basic question about the safety of life. States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal have seen a rising trend according to the data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Surprisingly Jammu and Kashmir figures nowhere. It may be because there are ‘no accidents taking place’ or the agencies concerned may not have compiled the data. The study also shows that over-speeding and dangerous driving were the biggest reasons for road fatalities and major share of life snatchers were two-wheelers and trucks. The more concerning is death of teenage drivers on the roads. Throwing all safety norms the way these youngsters drive around especially at peak hours within the narrow and congested roads of the cities and lanes the situation on the roads has become very scary. The population of vehicles has also gone up but the roads and other infrastructure have not expanded resultantly traffic jams have become regular scene not only in the two Capital cities but in any city of the State. Even the residents of these cities have got used to such bottlenecks. There would be some plan to keep heavy traffic like matadors, trucks from city roads to outer ones which can help in decongesting them thus having less traffic jams. There is an urgent need to have a better traffic management with more and more people’s involvement especially in the face of rising cases of underage driver deaths. Unless and until it becomes a people’s initiative the traffic congestion is going to remain the same. Safe driving is a rare phenomena to see on Jammu roads. One can see two-wheeler drivers coming from any side, four-wheelers stopping middle of the road at their will, stopping mid of the road to pay obeisance to a deity and driving into traffic at breakneck speed are some of the instances one comes across daily. All this has got nothing to do with infrastructure but the practice of safe driving which is a rare commodity here with the people.
