Jammu Kashmir roads continue to claim lives as more than 400 people have lost lives in road accidents till June while over 3000 got injured.
As per the figures available with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), as many as 417 people have lost lives due to road accidents in the first six months of the ongoing year. During the same time, 3,894 people have got injured in road mishaps.
This suggested that nearly three persons died due to road accidents on an average daily in Jammu and Kashmir this year.
Figures also reveal that 4,200 road accident deaths have been reported over the last five years in Jammu and Kashmir, indicating 800 lives lost annually in the Union Territory.
As per officials, more deaths have occurred in the Jammu region particularly in Pir Panjal and the national highway.
Jammu regions saw some of the biggest road accidents recently. In November last year At least 39 people died and 17 others were injured after a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and rolled 300 feet down a hill onto another road in Doda.
Last month, eight family members died when a car they were traveling in fell into a deep gorge in the Daksum area of Anantnag.
Officials said, “For several years, road accidents have predominantly occurred in high-altitude areas such as Rajouri, Doda, and Poonch. In the Kashmir region, accidents are mainly concentrated on the national highway, often attributed to driver negligence and other factors.”
Officials said the traffic department was constantly raising awareness regarding road safety.
As per the Ministry of Roads and Transport, major causes of accidents on the National Highways (NHs) in Jammu and Kashmir are due to vehicle design and condition, road engineering, over-speeding, drunken driving/ consumption of alcohol and drug, driving on the wrong side, jumping the red light and use of the mobile phone during driving—(KNO)