Kottayam: Two-wheelers account for the highest number of road mishaps in the country, which witnessed a 2.5 per cent increase in road mishap-related deaths.
And Kerala is no exception, a senior official of the Motor Vehicles Department said, backing the finding of the 'Road accidents in India 2015' report from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Kottayam joint regional transport officer (JRTO) Gigy George puts the onus of the alarming increase in such mishaps on under-age driving and influx of sports bikes with bigger power mills.
“Imported bikes have resulted in number of accidents here. The proud owners of these bikes are those below the age group of 30 years. These bikes are meant for racing tracks and not for our roads,” Gigy George commented.
“It is unfortunate that more than half of the death due to road accidents fall in the age group of below 30 years,” George said.
As per the data from Kerala Motor Vehicles Department (MVD), in 2016 alone there are 10, 392 road accidents reported and more than 1,154 deaths since January 2016.
As per latest MVD statistics, there are 5,99,123 motor cycles in the state.
Earlier it was difficult to get your hands on imported bikes or sports bikes with bigger engine capacities.
Thanks to a booming spending culture, its has become easy for parents to gift children with the most sophisticated bikes, unfit for congested roads here.
Fair enough, but perhaps they miss offering some sane counsel on responsible riding to their wards.
“Our department believes that parents are to be blamed for giving vehicles to their children. The parents have to be first educated about the troubles of under-age driving (riding),” said George.
“Its a common sight to see under-age motor bike riders making their way through the congested roads and heavy traffic, least bothered about the threat they pose to fellow travellers. The allotted speed in Kerala is just 50km/h, and these youngsters vroom away, increasing risk of accidents and severity of casualties.” George added.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways report released on Thursday reveals that on an average, every hour, 17 lives are lost in road accidents alone. Despite stringent measures adopted by the government, the number of road accidents have increased unabatedly.
More than half of the persons killed in the accidents belong to the age group of 15-34 years. The ministry blames the over-speeding as the major reason for the mishaps.
Tamil Nadu tops the list in road mishaps followed by Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala respectively.