Karnataka to have Road Safety Authority similar to Kerala. Kerala formed this authority 10 years ago. In 2015, 10,856 people were killed in road accidents in Karnataka
After repeatedly securing a top slot in national accident data, Karnataka is finally getting its own Road Safety Authority to make the roads safer by streamlining road safety programme. Interestingly, the neighbouring Kerala already have their road safety authority that was formed a decade ago to reduce road accidents.
Karnataka for the first time will such an authority that will be created through an act by the state legislature and this body will have powers to pass orders with binding effect on other departments, according to experts. Apart from this authority, other different source of income including setting up road safety fund might also be considered by the state transport department.
Accident and Karnataka:
According to Ministry of Road Transport and Highways 2015 data, Karnataka came fourth in highest numbers of road accident with 44,011 cases, and 10,856 deaths were registered due to road accidents. The number of injured person in road accidents was 56,971 which is the second highest after Tamil Nadu. Last year, Bengaluru itself witnessed 713 deaths due to accidents.
In 2014, the state registered 43694 accidents and 10444 deaths coming third in the list of highest road accidents in India. In fact, in past 3, 4 years Karnataka is registering close to 10,000 deaths every year due to accident.
Despite this startling data, the authorities took so long to form a unified body to focus on road safety whereas Kerala already has a similar body from a decade now.
