Death of youth in road accidents is worrying: Om Birla!

Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota Bundi MP Om Birla held an important meeting on Wednesday in his office at Parliament House to strengthen road safety in his parliamentary constituency. Met with representatives of ‘Save Life Foundation’, an organization working in the field of road safety.

The objective of this meeting was to effectively implement the ‘Zero Fatality District Program’ in Kota-Bundi parliamentary constituency to bring down the deaths in road accidents to the minimum level and work towards ensuring zero fatality rate in the long term.

During the meeting, Speaker Om Birla expressed deep concern over the deaths in road accidents and said that most of the lives of youth are lost in road accidents, which is not only an irreparable loss to the families but also a loss to the productive power of the nation. He said that road safety is not just an administrative matter but a matter of social responsibility and there is a need to give it the form of a mass movement.

He said that our aim is not only to reduce road accidents but also to develop Kota-Bundi parliamentary constituency as an ideal ‘Zero Fatality Model’. He said that if coordinated efforts are made, road accident deaths can be reduced by 70 per cent in the coming years and ultimately brought to near zero.

The detailed study and data presented by ‘Save Life Foundation’ was discussed in the meeting. The Foundation said that on an average, more than 400 people die every year in Kota-Bundi area due to road accidents. The study has identified 21 critical road corridors where almost 50 percent of road accident deaths occur.

Additionally, 19 such places have been identified where about 25 per cent of deaths occur due to repeated traffic rule violations. And 12 highly vulnerable pedestrian accident sites have been identified, where approximately 20 percent of accident-related deaths have been recorded.

The Foundation also informed that out of about 60 police station areas of Kota-Bundi region, there are 25 police station areas where about 80 percent of the total road accident deaths are recorded. According to the study, reckless driving like speeding and dangerous overtaking is the major cause of about 24 percent of accidental deaths.

It was also informed in the meeting that compared to the year 2024, a decrease in road accidents has been recorded in the Kota-Bundi area in the year 2025, which is a positive sign of the effectiveness of road safety measures. However, more comprehensive and institutional efforts are needed in this direction.

During the meeting, different action plans for National Highway Authority (NHAI), Public Works Department (PWD), Urban Local Bodies, Police Department, Transport Department and Health Department were discussed in detail.

It mainly included topics like engineering improvements at accident prone sites, road safety audit, on-site inspection, traffic management, signaling system, black spot improvement, pedestrian safety and strengthening institutional partnerships at the local level. There was also discussion on protecting children of schools located along the highways from road accidents.

Special emphasis was also laid on providing prompt medical aid after the accident. It was discussed in the meeting how to reduce the time taken to take a victim to the hospital after an accident, how to make ambulance services more effective and how to strengthen the trauma care system.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that the road safety system should be further strengthened by making maximum use of the command and control centers already established in Kota. Emphasizing on the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based surveillance system, he said that 24-hour surveillance should be ensured through CCTV cameras installed on major highways and sensitive sites.

He said that a system should be developed to immediately identify and warn drivers who violate traffic rules, drive at excessive speed or do dangerous overtaking and take necessary action. Technology based monitoring can prove to be extremely effective in improving road safety.

Birla said that to prevent road accidents, not only the government, but also the administration, social organizations, expert organizations and common citizens will have to work together. He expressed confidence that through coordinated efforts and scientific approach, Kota-Bundi can be made the country’s first model ‘Zero Fatality Parliamentary Constituency’.

OSD to Lok Sabha Speaker Rajesh Goyal was also present in this meeting along with officials of Save Life Foundation.