New MV Act: Odisha Sees Marginal Drop In Road Accidents

Bhubaneswar: Strict implementation of the new Motor Vehicle Act, 2019 has brought down road accidents in Odisha.

This was revealed at the second meeting of the Odisha State Road Safety Council at Lok Seva Bhawan here on Wednesday.

The road mishap data revealed:

—2019 saw a drop in the rate of road accidents by 4.5 per cent compared to 2018
—The number of fatalities too had come down by 12 per cent this year
—Most of the road mishaps were reported from Boudh, Rayagada, Sonepur, Kandhamal, Deogarh and Malkangiri districts
—Of the total 1.52 lakh deaths in road accidents in the country in 2018, 5,315 fatalities were reported in Odisha.
—17 people die in road accident every one hour in India.
—In the last 10 years, 38,204 people have died in Odisha of which 70 per cent are youths.
—The death rate in Odisha during 2014-2018 was 35.2 per cent.
— 4115 people have died in Odisha till September this year.
—Till date, about 8000 people in Odisha have been arrested for drunken driving while legal action has been taken against 750 persons for violating traffic rules.