Overtaking from wrong side sans clearance from driver of vehicle ahead spelled doom for nearly 40 passengers aboard a passenger bus on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh around 6am on Wednesday.
A per reports, the ill-fated bus rammed sideways into a milk tanker after colliding while overtaking the latter from the wrong side resulting a tragic road accident in Unnao district on Wednesday morning. The bus going from Shivgarh in Bihar to Delhi on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway collided with a tanker on the airstrip in Behta Mujawar police station area.
Out of around 100 passengers in the bus, 18 bus passengers, including two women and a child aged ten years died in the accident while nearly 20 passengers were seriously injured.
The seriously injured were referred to Unnao District Hospital after being given first aid at Bangarmau CHC.
PM expresses grief, announces compensation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his profound grief over the Unnao road mishap. He assured that under state government’s supervision, the local administration was engaged in helping the victims in every possible way.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) posted on X “The Prime Minister has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased in the mishap in Unnao. The injured would be given Rs 50,000.”
Road fatalities on the rise in state
As per reports there were 44,534 accidents in 2023 in Uttar Pradesh which resulted in 23,652 deaths besides leaving 31,098 injured. Alone 1,176 accident cases were reported in Noida in 2023 where 470 people died besides 858 were seriously injured. An increase of 6.7% was witnessed in road accidents in 2023 as compared to 2022. Also a rise of 4.7% in deaths in 2023 was reported as compared to 2022. Around 9% rise in injuries was reported in 2023 as compared to the previous year. The government has directed the transport department to come out with a standard operating procedure (SOP) on road safety and rectify the road design faults to curb road accidents by at least 50% in 2024 as compared to 2023.
Rate of fatalities
As per the World Road Statistics, 2022 the rate of fatalities in India was assessed at 9.5 persons killed per 1,00,000 population. Government reports revealed that while the Central Government formulated rules under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, the enforcement of these rules fell under the purview of State Governments/UT administrations. As per the data received from Police Departments of States/ UTs, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways published its report on Road Accidents in India, 2022.
Road fatalities in country during last ten years
| Year | No. of Fatalities | Fatalities per 10,000 vehicles |
| 2013 | 1,37,572 | 7.6 |
| 2014 | 1,39,671 | 7.3 |
| 2015 | 1,46,555 | 7.0 |
| 2016 | 1,51,192 | 6.6 |
| 2017 | 1,50,003 | 5.9 |
| 2018 | 1,57,593 | 5.8 |
| 2019 | 1,58,984 | 5.4 |
| 2020* | 1,38,383 | 4.2 |
| 2021* | 1,53,972 | 4.3 |
| 2022 | 1,68,491 | 4.3 |
| (*Covid affected years) |
