Busting the stereotype about women being bad drivers, a report compiled by Delhi Traffic Police recently revealed that women drivers caused less than 2% of all fatal road mishaps in the city and their involvement in accidents has dropped in the past few years despite more women taking the wheel. The report revealed that 12 fatal accidents were caused by women in Delhi, against 724 by men.

The national capital is being taken as a point of reference only because Arunachal or Itanagar doesn’t offer a similar data base. The point being driven home here is that despite ‘perception’ that women cannot drive, the fact that women follow traffic rules and are cautious results in far less road mishaps involving them.

Road accident has been a leading cause of death primarily because of driver’s negligence and a lack of awareness on road safety.

Road safety affects all individuals; shockingly, its implementation is left at the hands of the administration. Safety rules which should have been followed diligently, has been shunned obstinately by the public who are affected the most. People behind the wheels must take precautionary measures as road safety is not the sole responsibility of the government. The public needs to be responsible as well when it comes to road safety.

The revelation that Arunachal Pradesh has incidents of road accidents much above the national average, though concerning doesn’t exactly come as a shock. Road Safety and adherence to traffic rules are non-issues among residents here. Arunachalese cannot be bothered with something as basic and important as safety of road users.

 The traffic management authorities in the state has a daunting task to manage road users and the lack of infrastructure makes their job that much harder. Footpaths, Zebra Crossings etc which ensure pedestrian safety and help in keeping the roads in order are missing fuelling more chaos. It is important that there is a strong coordination between all the stakeholder departments namely Transport, PWD, Traffic Police, National Highways Authority and Health to ensure proper road safety.