The Hindu : National : 21 killed in road accidents in M.P.

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Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
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21 killed in road accidents in M.P.

Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL: Two head-on collisions in Guna and Ujjain districts that claimed 19 lives on Monday are ample indication that travelling by road is potentially hazardous and life-threatening in Madhya Pradesh.

In a ghastly accident involving a mini-bus and a truck, 16 persons were killed and many more injured. The bus was going from Guna to Kumbhraj. So massive was the impact of the accident that many of the bodies had to be extracted out of the mangled remains of the bus with the help of a crane.

In the other accident, three persons died on the spot and six injured when a government vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by a rashly driven truck coming from the opposite direction in Ujjain district.

According to information received here, a boy was also crushed to death on Monday by a speeding bus near Chanderi, while a rashly driven mini-bus overturned between Sagar and Muhasa. One passenger was killed and about two dozen injured in this accident.

A senior police officer said recklessly driven vehicles had become a nightmare in Madhya Pradesh. Absence of a system for drivers’ education is a major cause for this. What compounds the situation is lack of enforcement when it comes to issuing certificates of road-worthiness for vehicles -- especially commercial vehicles -- that have no reason to be plying on roads.

Roadside encroachments in the form of “dhabas” of all shapes and sizes, makeshift puncture-repair shops and slow-moving bullock carts or cattle are among the other factors that disturb the flow of traffic, leading to accidents.

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