NEW DELHI: The Haryana and Delhi sections of NH-44 – India’s longest highway that connects Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south- are the most unsafe road stretches in the country, going by the data for 2023. While 715 lives were lost on the 266-km section of the highway in Haryana, which translates into three fatalities per km, the 30-km Delhi portion recorded 63 deaths, or almost two deaths a km.Officials of road transport ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said 100 highway stretches in the country had been ranked by SaveLife Foundation, which has signed an MoU with the ministry.
“The organisation has used govt data, including the new Integrated Road Accident Database, to arrive at the findings. After carrying out detailed analysis, corrective measures are being taken to reduce the number of accidents,” said an NHAI official.Among the three road sections in Delhi that are a part of NH-44 (3,745 km in length) are the Mukarba Chowk-Sanghu Border and Ashram-Badarpur Border stretches. These have been found to be highly accident-prone.The Haryana section (85 km) of NH-48 from Gurgaon to Rajasthan border was the third most unsafe highway in 2023, recording at least two deaths per km.Officials and road safety experts explained that the number of fatal crashes is high on highway stretches passing through major cities and urban areas given the presence of different kinds of vehicles and users. “We have not created enough facilities for safe passage of pedestrians and cyclists on highways passing through cities. After the problematic areas are flagged, we will be taking remedial action,” said an official.Sources said NHAI is using the updated data on crashes on NH stretches to ask highway builders and operators to take corrective measures.The govt has also identified 100 districts reporting high numbers of road crashes and rolled out ‘Data Driven Hyperlocal Intervention (DDHI)’ to check crashes and fatalities. The districts are spread across 18 states – the highest number (19) is in Maharashtra, followed by 18 in Uttar Pradesh and 11 in Karnataka – based on integrated road accident data collected since 2021.
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