Maharashtra’s highways have become graveyards

MUMBAI: About 10,000 people die annually on Maharashtra’s highways. That’s a Latur earthquake every year in terms of the sheer number of deaths. And nobody seems to be shaken.

For the last five years, Maharashtra has consistently ranked first, second or third among states in highway fatalities. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh give it some competition, but other states fall far behind.

Last year the state recorded 10,354 deaths and in the six months till June this year, 5,922 people have already lost their lives on its killer highways, according to data with the Maharashtra highway police and the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.

Interestingly, a region-wise break-up suggests that most accidents happen near cities, which one could attribute to a greater density of vehicles and faster cars, and more experientially to the sudden, unbridled joy of breaking free from tedious city traffic.

“Once he gets out of city bounds, the typical city guy feels all the traffic is behind him and it is time to step on the gas. Moreover, highways seem to be the perfect setting to show off you driving skills to the woman sitting next to you. Plus, on weekend getaways, people are usually carrying their drink in the car or are already front-loaded,” says Sumanta Ganguly, a senior media marketing executive.

He, however, keeps the wings of his car fixed to the sides remembering a friend whom he lost in a highway accident a couple of years ago. An office group from Mumbai were travelling on the highway to Indore at night when their Sumo drove into a truck.

Ganguly’s friend, 30-year-old Arup Ghosh, was on the wheels.”It must have been a momentary lapse of attention on Arup’s part, because he was a skilled rally driver and would never smoke or drink. We used to once share a flat in Nerul and I still remember the morning I got the news,” says Ganguly.

The five killed in the accident went down as a mere statistic in the 84,674 people killed on highways across the country in 2002. Only, the lives of Ghosh’s parents and his elder sister changed forever.

Vijay Kamble, special inspector-general of police dealing with highways, says most accidents happen because of human error.

This is borne out by stats: In 2006, till June, 35,239 out of 39,111 (more than 90 per cent) accidents on the state’s highways happened because of human errors like faulty driving, speeding, driving without a licence and other factors. Drunken driving accounted for 700 accidents, 148 incidents happened because the driver was too tired and on occasions had dozed off on the wheel, and 106 crashes took place because the driver got dazzled by headlights.

“The bigger tragedy is that most accidents claim people in the 15-45 age group, the most productive among the population. If you take the overall economic impact of these accidents, the loss to the nation would run into several thousand crores,” says Kamble.

“The problem is attitude. People in cities often finish their day’s work and prefer to drive at night, which is not advisable. They drive long hours, when one should drive for not more than three hours at a stretch.”

Many would argue that bad roads cause accidents. Till June this year, 180 crashes occurred because of bad roads - less than 0.5 per cent of all road accidents. MM Kadu, executive engineer with the state traffic engineering unit dealing with highway safety, has a perspective on this.

“Ironically, if the condition of road is very good, more accidents tend to happen. Potholes tend to bring down speed and hence the impact of a crash,” he says. “But it doesn’t mean we keep our roads in bad condition. On a bad stretch, the driver often gets impatient and hits the accelerator in sheer frustration.”

He says every road is built with a “designed speed”, its super-elevation depending on the cross-section or radius of the road’s curve. “You see speed signs on the highway. When you are exceeding it, you are upsetting the geometry, and interestingly, even if you are going under the speed limit, there is a risk of an accident,” he says.

Last year, the road safety cell of the Central Department of Road Transport and Highways granted 90 ambulances and 61 cranes to NGOs working on highway safety, trained 45,459 heavy vehicle drivers in basics, and awarded a couple of lakhs to state road transport undertakings for the least number of accidents - all, as Kamble puts it, “to help improve the guy behind the wheel”.