Image Courtesy: ytimg
New Delhi, 10 January 2016: Four members of a family were killed and over 25 other commuters sustained serious injuries in a massive pile-up this morning on National Highway 1 in Karnal, Haryana. The crash was reportedly caused due to a stationary truck parked on the road in dense fog. Each year, such conditions lead to severe crashes across north India. A few weeks ago in Lucknow, a car plunged into a canal due to dense fog killing four people on the spot. In another incident reported on January 24, 2016, a 50-car pile-up on the Yamuna Expressway near Delhi killed one person and injured several more.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2014, 9039 road crashes took place as a result of unfavourable weather conditions, especially fog, killing 5,300 people. With no system for mandatory driving skills training before issuance of a license, most commuters remain unaware of the hazards posed by such conditions. According to Piyush Tewari, Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, “A family lost four members in the fraction of a second. The needs of the hour are better signages, mandatory safe-distance barricading of broken-down vehicles, and proper training of commuters to drive in fog. Simple measures such as speed-control, following lane markings and keeping windows slightly down to hear traffic you cannot see, can prevent such tragedies.”
How To Drive In Fog
Distribution of Road Accidents by Causes and unmanned Railway Crossing Accidents during 2014
Piyush Tewari, Founder and President of SaveLIFE Foundation, lost his 17-year-old cousin due to delayed response after he had met with a road accident. This tragic incident led him to realise the critical need for working towards this cause and he founded SaveLIFE Foundation in 2008.
