Rajasthan accident: Experts blame incomplete construction, sudden cuts; seek road safety action plan

Jaipur: Incomplete construction, sudden cuts and a lack of traffic sense might have caused the Jaipur-Ajmer highway accident that killed 14 people, experts said on Saturday and called for a comprehensive statewide road safety action plan.

They also attributed the absence of proper signages and road markings for the accident.

"The stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway where the crash occurred is an accident-prone spot, with poor traffic management and ongoing construction creating hazardous conditions," said George Cheriyan, a prominent voice of Road Safety Network in India and a former member of the Rajasthan chief secretary's traffic management committee.

He said physical measures should have been in place to prevent big tankers from making u-turns on the highway.

It is difficult to apply brakes when moving at high speeds, Cheriyan said.

An LPG tanker collided with a truck on Friday, sparking a massive fireball that turned a stretch of the Jaipur-Ajmer highway into an inferno in which 14 people died and nearly 40 vehicles were engulfed in flames.

More than 30 people who suffered burn injuries in the massive crash are undergoing treatment.

Cheriyan said road accidents in Rajasthan surged by 13 percentage points in 2022, accompanied by an 11 percentage point increase in fatalities.

The data, released by Rajasthan's department of transport and road safety, showed that the number of accidents rose to 23,614 in 2022 compared to 20,951 in the previous year.

Rajasthan was also among the six large states that accounted for nearly 55 per cent of the 1,73,000 (1.73 lakh) road accident deaths in the country in 2023. It recorded the sharpest increase in fatalities among them, with an almost six percentage point rise from 2022, according to data shared by state governments with the Centre.

According to Cheriyan, the continuing trend of such road accidents in Rajasthan called for a comprehensive statewide action on road safety for 2025 to 2030.

Bagru Udhyog Mitra co-convenor Navneet Jhalani, who passes the accident spot daily, said, "The foundation of Friday's accident was laid when the ring road was hastily inaugurated six years ago to bypass the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct for elections. A cloverleaf interchange had to be constructed on the busy highway but it is still pending."

He added that they submitted several several memoranda to the National Highways Authority of India regarding this.

Road safety expert Dr Prerna Arora Singh said, "There is no high mast lighting system at the intersection. Visibility becomes very low during winters. There is no radium, reflector or signal marker of any kind at the cut."

She also said the width of the cut at the intersection was too narrow.

"If a big truck such as a container or gas tanker passes through, it blocks the road on both sides. This could possibly be the reason for the accident," Singh said.

She also said there was a lack of road traffic sense among people that needed to be improved through interventions.

Talking to reporters after meeting the accident victims at Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Congress leader Sachin Pilot also highlighted several shortcomings and demanded a probe.

"We all know about the accident spot. Why was construction not completed? Who is the contractor and agency? We need to know the facts after a detailed probe," he said.

Pilot also said that accidents were rising with the increase in the number of vehicles in the country.

"Governments will have to seriously think whether safety norms are being followed," he said.