Bhubaneswar: Chairing the meeting of the State-level Road Safety Council at the Lok Seva Bhawan on Thursday, Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera informed that as many as 4,738 persons died in the road accidents and around 5,000 were seriously injured in 2020.
While the death rate due to accidents has dipped by about 11% as compared to 2019, the fatalities rate in road accidents in Odisha is 33.33% higher than the national average, Behera informed in the meeting.
Out of the total persons killed in road mishaps, 53% are motorcycle riders, and 80% out of them died for not wearing helmets. The majority of the persons killed in road accidents in the State are mainly from the districts of Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Ganjam, Cuttack, and Khordha, the Minister stated.
To reduce fatalities due to road accidents, the State’s Transport department has taken several significant measures. The department has created a volunteer group to help road accident victims. These volunteers have been imparted first responder training. Refresher training is being organised for motor vehicle drivers, he added.
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