Bhubaneswar: Odisha has registered more deaths due to road accidents than the national average, said Transport Minister Padmanava Behera on Thursday.
Speaking at the state-level meeting of National Road Safety Council, here, the minister said the state reported 48 fatalities per 100 road accidents compared to the national average of 36 deaths.
Stating that total 4,738 people lost their lives in road accidents in the state in 2020, he said the fatality rate came down by 11% in 2020 against 2019.He assigned it to lockdown imposed in the wake of COVID pandemic in 2019.
While motorcycle-riders accounted for 53% of the total deaths, 805 of them did not wear helmets at the time of mishap.
Behera further said maximum number of accident related deaths was reported from Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Ganjam, Cuttack and Khurda districts.
On the government steps to bring down the accidents, he said volunteer groups formed for the purpose have been imparted first response training. Besides, a survey has been conducted to identify the black spots and steps are being taken to remove those, he added.
