Akola:

A former MLA and one more person were killed after a pickup vehicle hit their two-wheeler in Akola city of Maharashtra on Thursday, police said.

The former legislator, Tukaram Bidkar (73), was declared dead at a hospital where he was taken in a critical condition after the accident in the afternoon, an official said, adding that the police have arrested the driver of the pickup vehicle.

Mr Bidkar was an MLA of the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for a single term from 2004 to 2009, representing the Murtizapur assembly constituency in the district. He also served as the chairman of the Vidarbha Development Corporation.

“The accident took place at 3.30 pm in Shivni area of Akola when Mr Bidkar was pillion riding on a two-wheeler. He was taken to a private hospital, where he was declared dead. Rajdatta Mankar (48), who was riding the two-wheeler, also died in the accident,” a police official said.

Mr Bidkar was returning home after meeting Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule at the airport in Shivni, he said.

The MIDC police in Akola have arrested the accused driver, Mohammad Sahil Abdul Shahid (25), and the process of registering an FIR against him was underway, the official added.

Mr Bidkar had produced a Marathi film named “Debu” based on the life of Saint Gadge Maharaj, a social reformer who advocated for cleanliness, de-addiction, avoidance of blind faith, among other things. He had also worked as a Zilla Parishad member.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jhansi:

 Three men were killed when their car rammed into a truck parked on the roadside in this Uttar Pradesh district on Tuesday, police said.

The accident took place in the Babina area on the Jhansi-Lalitpur national highway in the evening, they said, adding that the driver of the car lost control over the vehicle while trying to save a puppy.

Circle Officer, Sadar, Alok Kumar said Karan Vishwakarma, a resident of Siya village in the Chirgaon area of Jhansi district, got engaged to a woman in Lalitpur on Tuesday. After the engagement, he was returning to Chirgaon in a car along with two companions, when a puppy suddenly came in front of the vehicle near the Babina toll plaza at around 6:30 pm.

In an attempt to save the animal, the driver lost control over the car, which rammed into a truck parked on the roadside, the officer said.

Vishwakarma and his companions — Pradyumna Sen and Pramod Yadav — were killed on the spot, he said, adding that the car got completely smashed in the incident.

All the victims are aged between 20 and 25 years, police said.

The bodies were taken out from the mangled remains of the car with the help of a JCB machine and sent for post-mortem, they said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Patna:

A tragic road accident in Bihar’s Nalanda district on Wednesday claimed three lives while three individuals were left injured when a speeding truck rammed into a passenger-laden three-wheeler near the Pragati Petrol pump in the Chhabilpur police station area, police said.

The impact of the accident was such that three persons died on the spot.

The deceased are identified as Kanchan Devi, Dilip Kumar and Bindi Prasad.

The injured individuals are identified as Priyanka Devi, Rinki Devi and Ravi Ranjan Kumar.

All injured individuals were admitted to the Rajgir sub-divisional hospital.

As their conditions were critical, the doctors referred them to Pawapuri Medical College and Hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

Doctors report that the condition of all the injured is stable, but the incident has caused immense distress among their families.

The victims were travelling from Rajgir to Barnaussa in an autorickshaw when the truck struck them.

Eyewitnesses describe the collision as severe, leading to chaos and panic at the scene.

After the accident, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Kumar Omkeshwar, Deputy Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar Singh, Inspector Sanjay Kumar and the station heads of Chhabilapur and Rajgir police stations reached the hospital.

The police have started investigating the case.

“A case of rash and negligent driving has been registered against the errant truck driver at Chhabilpur police station. He fled the scene after the collision. Efforts are underway to apprehend him,” said Sanjay Kumar, SHO of Chhabilapur police station.

This incident highlights the persistent issue of reckless driving on Bihar’s roads, which frequently results in life-threatening accidents.

The affected families are urging swift justice and proper support for the victims.

The local administration has assured that all necessary steps will be taken to ensure proper treatment and bring those responsible for the accident to justice.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

When 22-year-old Vinita decided to take a bus from Udaipur instead of boarding a train to reach Jaipur, little did she know that her change in plans to reach the destination early would cost her life.

Vinita was one of the three persons who succumbed to critical burn injuries in the hospital today. She was travelling in a bus from Udaipur to Jaipur that was gutted in a fire that broke out after a collision between a truck and an LPG tanker on Jaipur-Ajmer national highway on December 20.

She was standing near the gate of the bus, waiting it to stop at 200-feet bypass in Jaipur in a couple of minutes but barely a few meters ahead of the stop, a gush of fire surrounded her, leaving her critically burnt.

Five days after battling for life at SMS hospital, she died in the early hours of Wednesday.

With three more deaths, the death toll in the incident on Wednesday rose to 18 while 15 are undergoing treatment.

“Vinita had gone to Udaipur to take an exam and was to board a train on Friday morning but she decided to board a sleeper bus instead on Thursday night, thinking that she would reach early. I was expecting a call from her that she had reached Jaipur. I indeed got a call, but it was about the accident,” her father Ramchandra said.

He said that Vinita was standing near the gate of the bus when the explosion occurred. The bus was behind the tanker.

“When the fire broke out, she instantly called me. I was shocked to hear and was numb for a moment. The call got disconnected and after some time, we got to know that she was badly injured,” he said.

He said that after the fire, Vinita jumped out of the bus and ran for some distance but by that time, she had received critical burn injuries.

The 20-year-old woman suffered 70 per cent burns and was admitted to ICU.

Ramchandra, who is from Pratapgarh, said that Vinita was preparing for competitive exams in Jaipur and staying there with her younger sister.

After the postmortem, the family members left for Pratapgarh with the body.

SMS hospital superintendent Sushil Bhati said that three persons died on Wednesday.

“With three more deaths, a total of 18 persons have died so far,” he said.

Bhati said that the condition of two of the injured is still critical.

An LPG tanker collided with a truck on December 20, sparking a massive fireball that turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway into an inferno.

Eleven persons had died on the day of the incident.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A six-year-old boy, out on a drive to eat panipuris with his father and two cousins near Mumbai on Sunday evening, died after their car was struck by another. The boy, Harsh Mavji Arethia, who was seated on the front passenger seat, died from the impact of the airbag that deployed due to the collision, according to the police.

An SUV driving ahead of the family’s Wagon R hit a divider. The impact was so forceful that the rear part of the SUV lifted into the air and fell on Wagon R’s bonnet, forcing airbags to deploy.

The incident took place in Vashi, about an hour’s drive from Mumbai.

Detailing the accident, Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Ghumal of Vashi Police Station, said, “Another car coming from behind hit the first car and its airbags opened. The child, sitting in the car, was hit by the airbag. The people passing by took him to the hospital. He died during the treatment. A case has been registered.”

According to doctors, Harsh had no visible injury marks. The doctors believe the cause of death to be polytrauma shock.

The visuals from the ground show the bonnet of the white Wagon R severely damaged. The metal is creased and torn, with sharp edges. The crash has pushed the bonnet upwards.

The man driving the SUV has been arrested.

A man, his head sticking out, is trapped under a moving truck with his bike and is heard screaming for help, showed a disturbing video from Uttar Pradesh. 

The incident took place on the Agra highway. 

The man, identified as Zakir, gesticulated to a biker to help him, even as the truck kept accelerating, showed the 36-second clip. 

Another man was trapped underneath the moving truck.

“Bahut cheekhe hum, nahi roka unhone, ghaseete hue le gaya humko (We screamed a lot, he didn’t stop and dragged us away),” said Zakir, one of the two victims, from his hospital bed, with bruises on his face. 

“We were returning home after having our meal. As soon as we crossed a truck, it hit the accelerator. Our bike got stuck under it and so did our leg,” Zakir added. 

Other motorists on the highway finally overtook the truck and stopped it. 

A small crowd had assembled. In another clip, a group of men are seen thrashing the driver, some kicking him while some others used a slipper to hit him. The driver has been arrested, said the police. 

The crowd is then seen pushing the truck to extricate the men trapped underneath. A bloodied patch of ground can also be seen in the video. 

“A video is going viral on social media. In this video a person is being dragged for a long distance by a truck. A case has been filed against the truck driver and he has been arrested. The person who was being dragged has been admitted to a hospital,” said a senior police official.
 

India is the road accident capital of the world. A disgraceful and regrettable record indeed. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, revealed that there were 4.80 lakh road accidents in 2023, resulting in 1.72 lakh deaths – a 4.2% rise in accidents and a 2.6% rise in deaths compared to 2022.

Even worse is the fact that one in every five road death victims in 2023 were pedestrians. It has been estimated that around 10,000 deaths occurred outside schools and colleges. The alarming numbers portray a deadly yet unchanging mix of civic indifference, government negligence and a cynical outlook.

Speaking during Question Hour in Lok Sabha recently, Nitin Gadkari lamented the rising road accident deaths in India, mainly due to the lack of respect or fear of traffic laws. 

The minister acknowledged four critical areas to reduce road accidents: road engineering, automobile engineering, enforcement of laws, and public education.

The rising deaths of children and young adults also reflect our insensitivity as human beings.

Dangerous trend

India’s road death rate sharply contrasts with the global rate, which showed a decline. Road traffic deaths fell by 5% to 1.19 million fatalities annually worldwide between 2010 and 2021, with 108 UN member nations reporting a drop, per a World Health Organisation (WHO) report. India, however, registered a whopping 15% increase in fatalities.

China has roughly the same number of people, but it has reported just 60,028 fatalities in 2023.

Bad driving and weak law enforcement are only part of the problem. Another aspect is the rapidly growing number of vehicles. In 2024, India’s total vehicle production is expected to be around 28.43 million units, which is an increase from the previous year. 

This means that the roads are mostly choked. It’s almost impossible to leave a safe distance between vehicles, and when space does open up, irritated drivers often respond by speeding up.

While the increase in population, road length, and vehicle numbers offers some context, experts point out that efforts to curb fatalities remain insufficient.

Road safety expert Ashwini Bagga says both policy interventions and political will are required. “Vehicles in India are increasing by the day and there is no cap on it. It is difficult to stop this because the automobile industry in India has a stake of 10% to 12% in India’s GDP. Similarly, the road network is also expanding,” he says.

“We may be developing state-of-the-art infrastructure, but our road users are still lacking basic knowledge for using such infrastructure and high-end vehicle technology. Lack of enforcement on highways is also a contributing factor,” adds Bagga.

Future generation – worst sufferer

In India’s metro cities and towns, there is no strict zone earmarked for schools and colleges. Areas around and near the schools and colleges, mainly in the city’s centre or some busy part of the city, often witness chaotic traffic. Students of all ages are forced to take a hazardous journey to school every day. While many students rely on private vehicles, most use public transport, cycles or simply walk.

Their daily nightmare begins right from the time they begin the journey to school, often packed in dangerously driven vans, autorickshaws, and buses, mostly without basic safety features (seat belts, Airbags etc); then trying to dodge speeding vehicles and walking through thin spaces between parked cars.

Our footpaths are too narrow, uneven, and often obstructed by makeshift eateries and electric transformers. Also, parked vehicles and large vans reversing near schools pose significant safety risks for children, compounded by long U-turns and speeding traffic.

The mixture of heavy traffic, poor pedestrian infrastructure, and lax enforcement of speed limits turns the daily commute into a frightening ordeal that constantly endangers children.

Highlighting ways to safeguard children and their school zone, Alok Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka, says, “It needs a combination of engineering, enforcement and education.” The engineering aspect includes creating pedestrian crossing or a raised pedestrian crossing, and barriers and bollards to prevent risky movement of children and students.

“Displaying school/college zone boards and speed limit boards; traffic calming measures like use of rumble strips, cats eyes/studs. Strict enforcement of traffic rules, speed limits and educating students regarding following traffic rules and to take precautions while crossing the roads can go a long way in reducing accidents,” says Alok Kumar.

Along with redeveloping the educational institution zone for the safety of students, designated paths, proper signage, traffic signals and safe crossings along the entire route from home to school should be prioritised.

“It will be good to adopt best practices for developing safe zones near schools and colleges. Firstly, it will help in providing children a safe infrastructure to walk and cross roads. Secondly, it will alert road users to identify an educational institution whenever they approach a safe zone. At several locations in India, it has been exercised but it is required to be replicated on a larger scale,” says Bagga.

Are laws enough?

Traffic violations are rampant despite the amendments in the MVA (Motor Vehicle Act) in 2019 that increased the fines for breaking traffic rules.

The amendment was projected to bring down traffic violations by financially hurting the violators, but it apparently had a limited impact. So, increasing the penalty is definitely not a deterrent. Experts have also pointed to the failure to enforce Section 106(2) BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), that enhanced the sentence of imprisonment to deter fatal road accidents. Due to the widespread protests by various truck unions, the section was kept in abeyance by the government.

“More than creating new laws, strict enforcement of existing rules and laws is important. Enforcement authorities should be aware of these provisions and enforce the provisions of MVA Act and Rules and provisions of BNS. Suspension of driving licence u/ s 206(4) of MV Act, 1988 should be effectively implemented. Sec 106(2) of BNS should be put into force. A cohesive approach among the stakeholder agencies will go a long way in reducing road traffic accidents,” says Alok Kumar.

Harsher laws may not act as a complete deterrent. They needs to be complemented with better surveillance, policing and strict implementation of traffic rules, without which the law in itself may not achieve the desired outcome.
 

IANS:

At least four people were killed and three others injured in a tragic road accident on Thursday evening in the Arwal district of Bihar.

The incident took place around 7:30 PM near Parsadi English village, under the jurisdiction of the Town Police Station in the district.

Ali Sabri, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Town Police Station, said the victims, residents of Kamta village under Kaler police station in the district were travelling in a Mahindra Scorpio SUV en route to Patna to attend a wedding ceremony.

“The accident occurred when the vehicle, speeding through the area, hit a small speed breaker. The driver lost control of the SUV, which subsequently skidded and fell into the Son Canal adjacent to the road,” Mr Sabri said.

“Four victims of a family died on the spot. Fortunately, three persons managed to survive despite having serious injuries. They were promptly rescued and taken to Sadar Hospital for treatment, where they are reported to be out of danger,” Mr Sabri said.

The victims of the road accident have been identified as Parmanand Kumar (30) – Resident of Kamta village, Priyanka Kumari (28) – Resident of Kamta village, Soni Kumari (22) – Wife of Parmanand Kumar, and Tannu Kumari (1) – Daughter of Parmanand and Soni Kumari.

The injured persons are identified as Namneet Kumar (20) Savita Devi (30) and Vaijanti Devi (45).

“We have informed the family members about the accident. The dead bodies were recovered from the canal and sent for the postmortem. The injured persons are currently recuperating in the Sadar hospital,” Mr Sabri said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)