Keonjhar: The state and national highways traversing through the district have turned into death traps for motorists and pedestrians with the stretches accounting for as many as 1,337 human casualties and 2,740 accidents since past six years.

The road mishaps on the highway have almost become a daily ritual. The official reports received in this regard sum up the alarming situation. In all 1,337 people, mostly pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists have lost their lives. As many as 2,882 people were injured with a majority of them becoming physically challenged following the accidents.

The break-up of human casualties in road accidents, according to the Keonjhar road transport department, is 238 in 2013, 246 in 2014, 208 in 2015, 234 in 2016 and 312 in last year. This year has recorded 99 human toll till March 31.

Unregulated vehicular traffic, violation of the road safety norms and unauthorised roadside parking have all contributed to the rise in the mishaps, said official sources.

Human settlements, educational institutions, busy market places and vegetable mandis are located by the side of the highways. "As a result, these areas have emerged as accident-prone zones. Apart from initiating the road safety measures, crackdown on reckless driving is the need of the hour to bring down the incidents of road accidents. These apart, the accident rate could be brought down if the highway is upgraded to double-lane," said a road safety campaigner, Kamal Lochan Sarangi. "The highway has come under roadside encroachments in strategic traffic junctions. Drivers are parking their vehicles on the roadside instead of at the assigned lay-bys. The majority of accidents recorded in the recent past were the result of vehicles hitting the parked ones. Over-speeding and drink driving have also attributed to the spurt in the mishaps," said another campaigner.

The road safety campaigners also attributed the non-installation of traffic signals and badly maintained vehicles to the increase in road accidents.

"The district administration has asked the department to put in place the basic road safety measures in the accident-prone zone of the highway. The department has also been directed to install streetlights and erect signboards and traffic signals in the accident-prone areas," said Keonjhar sub-collector Somnath Pradhan.