Roads in Jammu and Kashmir claim more lives than the militancy. The worst affected are the districts of Jammu and Udhampur followed by Rajouri, Ramban, Reasi, Poonch, Srinagar, Budgam, Anantnag, Awantipora, Sopore, Kupwara, Pulwama, Kargil and Shopian which have shown an uptrend. A number of committees of senior bureaucrats and of legislators were framed during the past few years to go into all aspects of accidents and suggest concrete and effective measures to prevent road accidents but the recommendations either remained confined to the official files or some of them implemented with half-hearted approach. Even during recent Governor’s Rule a committee headed by Chief Secretary with senior bureaucrats from different departments was framed but what measures the panel has suggested and whether those measures have actually been taken on ground remains a question unanswered. The State is yet to implement various recommendations given by the committees formed after every major accident. On an average State experiences around 5,800 accidents yearly. The worst being remotely placed areas lacking road connectivity wherein the rescue and relief operations always remain hampered and as far as highways are concerned there are no trauma hospitals to take care of casualties. Most of the recommendations have been confined to the files and have never seen the light. Such indifferent attitude has given a fertile ground for the growth of unscrupulous elements like untrained and under-aged drivers, no regard for driving, safety rules and above all no check on the overloading of passengers. As most of the passenger transport system is in the private sector the nexus between bus operator and traffic regulatory authority cannot be ruled which makes monitoring and implementation of rules and regulations difficult. The high number of accidents is blamed over the ineffective implementation of the Central policies by the implementing agencies in the State. The State Government’s efforts are half-hardhearted. Most of the rural roads are narrow and are death-traps. There is need for improved traffic engineering, enhanced traffic management operations, appropriate enforcement and rigorous road user education programmes which can definitely reduce the number of accidents and make available safer roads for the people. The existing traffic laws should also be reviewed to make them more stringent.
