Killer potholes

As per a government report for 2017, a staggering 4.64 lakh road accidents were reported in the country, claiming 1.47 lakh lives and causing injuries to 4.70 lakh persons. It roughly translates into 16 deaths and 53 injuries every hour. The accident figures are so grim that they goad a road user to thank her stars every time she reaches the destination safely. Yes, luck plays a major role. For, there are so many factors at play out there that are beyond your control. Adherence to all the rules of safe driving can come to naught, for example, if you hit that pothole in the middle of a badly lit street. In the absence of any warning sign for the hazardous depression, so many riders are unsuspectingly driving into these virtual death traps.

This is borne out by another set of statistics: in the last five years, potholes have turned fatal for 14,926 people. Even terrorists and enemy countries have not claimed those many lives. Hopefully, the Supreme Court declaring this abysmal state of our roads as unacceptable will steer the authorities towards ensuring smoother streets. There must not be any more precious life left at the mercy of substandard work. The court’s declaration that victims of potholes be entitled to compensation is another step forward towards this direction. Having to pay for losses due to substandard work would wake up the contractors concerned from the relative impunity that they seem to be enjoying now.

It will be in the interest of both parties if due attention is paid to road repair. No more patchy jobs, one that comes undone during the next monsoon. A more concrete maintenance effort, with the optimal amount of bitumen, must be put in not only on the highways but also the bylanes of smaller towns that are usually neglected. There is no room for cracks on roads intending to take the humungous load of our ever-increasing traffic. Road safety rules can work only if our infrastructure keeps pace with the global norms.