It is imperative to stop road accidents because reports suggest that the prime cause of death of people between the age group 5 and 29 years worldwide as per World Health Organization are fatal accidents. Globally, road accidents are the tenth leading cause of death and the situation in India is also critical as nearly 1.5 lakh people die of about 5 lakh road mishaps on an average annually thus making it necessary to take the issue on war footing to stop this bloodshed on roads. Going by the newspaper headlines the situation in J&K is also crucial because no day passes when there is no news of accidents and the fatalities due to the same. One can say that factors which contribute to the rising number of fatal accidents include over-population, poor safety, absence of enforcement, distracted drivers, drugs and alcohol, over speeding, reluctance to wear helmets and not following the other safety norms. Taking the example of J&K, poor road infrastructure in the far-off hamlets also plays a negative role and of course driving vehicles in inebriated condition, as hardly people have heard or watched traffic cops using breath analyzers to penalize the drunk culprits. Though at the national level, the government is taking several harsh steps to reduce accidents on roads but in J&K the things are rolling as they used to roll years back with no significant change on ground. In this context, the UT lost three precious lives and seven others received injuries which are critical after a bus carrying a marriage party met with an accident in remote Ramnagar area falling in Udhampur district. Over speeding has been blamed this time for the colossal loss of life but what is disappointing is the fact that there is no strategy to stop such accidents in the UT and end the vicious cycle of death and destruction. The level of training of the commercial vehicle drivers should be of that extent that come what may, their speed meters should not cross the stipulated limit but the situation in J&K is dismal as neither the passengers nor the driver care for such precautions. Rather one can say that people as a whole give two hoots to the traffic norms despite such tragic incidents when the people lose their near and dear ones.
