The State could see reduction in road crash fatalities and injuries through improved road safety management and institutional reform besides results-based interventions on high risk roads.
The World Bank board has approved financing the US $ 250 million India State Support Programme for Road Safety. The programme will be implemented in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In addition to improved road safety management, the programme envisages strengthening of emergency medical and rehabilitation services for post-crash care.
The project aims at establishing a national harmonised crash database system, the analysis of which would be used to construct better and safer roads to reduce incidents of road crashes. Though the number of accidents in the State have been on the decline, they still continue to be on the higher side.
According to the data of Transport department, the State witnessed 19,164 road accidents between January and December 2020 resulting in 6,668 deaths and injuries to 18,745 people. This was lower as compared with 21,588 accidents reported in 2019 resulting in 6,800 fatalities and injuries to 22,265. The number was a shade higher in 2018 with 22,630 accidents claiming 6,603 lives and injuring 23,613.
The Bank said road safety interventions faced a unique challenge in the country as the management was spread across different tiers of the government. The project would focus on strengthening and streamlining the management capabilities of the lead agencies for road safety in the participating States.
As women faced the indirect brunt of road accidents, the project had special focus on gender and would promote women’s representation in management roles in the road safety sector, the bank said adding it would provide employment opportunities for women especially in post-crash care command and control centres. The project would also provide incentives to States to leverage private funding through public-private partnership concessions and pilot initiatives.
