Road Accidents: The Syndrome of Losing Control!

The recent Khetri-Sonapur Traveler bus accident on National Highway-27 that killed 7 people has put the menace of road accidents in Assam as well as in India in sharp focus. Bad roads came to the fore as the main reason. And indeed, it was the immediate reason. In fact, a series of accidents had taken place in the stretch between Guwahati and Nagaon in recent months involving high fatalities, and the highway remained full of potholes, craters and unrepaired still. This agitated the local people who decided to hold protests on the highway day and night that led to temporary closure of the Toll Tax gates which seem to be numerous despite the statutory regulations about their spacing. The State Government announced compensation and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was asked to undertake repairs within a week.

The menace of road accidents in Assam has been rising steadily since the last three years with the figure of total road accidents crossing 9000 in 2024 and in just the first three months of 2026 it reaching over 4200 with more than 1000 deaths. Eleven people are losing their lives daily due to road crashes in Assam while in India the daily death figure is 501. What is more terrifying has been the increasing fatality rate in Assam—reportedly the fifth highest in the country. Calculated per volume of vehicular traffic the rate in Assam is 7.43 while the national average is 4.58. Assam also has the dubious distinction of accounting for more than 82% of the total road crashes taking place in the entire North Eastern region. No doubt, the surge of development and urbanization has been much more in Assam in the recent years, resulting in high vehicular movement which, combined with bad roads, has made the state the most accident-prone one. However, there are many more factors contributing to accidents than only potholes-filled roads, and these factors are of a pan-India nature rather than being only Assam specific.

Whenever we read or watch a news report about a road accident we invariably come across the expression, ‘the driver lost control of the vehicle’. Whether we drive or not, common sense tells us that a bike or a car or a heavy vehicle is much easier to control at the speed of about 80km an hour than when it’s running at breakneck 120km+ speed, should an obstacle suddenly appear ahead on the road. The driver of an overspeeding vehicle would likely not be able to maneuver a pothole that he failed to foresee in time than a driver going at a steady speed. This brings to us the problem of overspeeding that has been universally accepted as the primary reason of road accidents, let it be in Assam or across India.  

Who are the drivers? Per various reports and data available in the public domain people in the age range of 18 to 45, that is say, mostly Gen Z and Gen Y generations, constitute nearly 80% of all drivers and they have been at the helm of driving, from bikes to all other vehicles, including the commercial cabs, passenger buses, tempos, and trucks. Young people are always impulsive, full of energy and impatience, and they stop at nothing to surge ahead. If we narrow the age group down to 18 to 35 years of age, then immediately we see how the bikers who are mostly of this age group account for nearly half of the total road accidents as well as of the fatalities. This is rampant in all the metros and cities of the country. Thanks to their high spirit and impatience, they often ignore safety measures like helmets and indulge in overspeeding and other wrongful practices like wrong-side driving or breaking lane discipline. If we now expand the age-group to the earlier 18 to 45, nothing changes much as far as the impulsive overspeeding and the related are concerned. Safety measures like even the basic seat belts are routinely ignored. However, there other more crucial factors to consider in this context.

An expert or a lucky driver can still successfully tackle road obstacles even while overspeeding; but unfortunately, drivers in general can be under various other influences.

Smartphones are a major distraction for the drivers who indulge in calls, chats, viewing and scrolling while driving. With their earphones plugged in expertly it is very difficult to detect them during checks if any.

They can also be under the influence of alcohol and drugs or both. Abundant quantities of these being easily available and at cheap rates, the drivers, young or even older, are often unable to drive off the temptations. The presence of traffic police and checks are never enough to deter them.

Stress is another very crucial factor: it can be social stress of drivers struggling with broken dysfunctional families, always trying hard but failing to make amends; frustration from not finding a job after earning the degrees and taking up driving as a gig, probably not undergoing proper training and licensing procedure beforehand; and absolute poverty inflicting many of them that makes jobless people desperate to try anything under the sun—be an additional handyman or a conductor or just a help for a friend’s commercial bus or truck, always willing to do anything the friend asks, even driving bouts at times. Financial insecurity or distress makes people depraved at times, ample blood-chilling examples of which we have been witnessing all around.

All these factors and influences combined with overspeeding usually peak during the long night and the wee-hours drives when most crashes take place—anywhere, everywhere. During such lethal hours, drivers, even not under the influences of any kind, can still overspeed and cause horrifying crashes due to fatigue or a momentary dozing off. Unfortunately, no thoughts have been given to late night or wee-hours driving by the authorities or the people in control.

As a contrast to the general scenario the often under-aged VVIP/VIP brats are adding to the menace of road accidents by killing/maiming pedestrians across the country. These dirty-rich brats are always under the influence of the choicest alcohol and drugs, and joyriding their father-imported SUVs just for the so-called glamour of it, but they let loose a killing spree. The toll of pedestrians killed by the out-of-control vehicles also forms a significant part of the total accident deaths.

We can never be sure if the driver of that ill-fated mini bus at the Khetri-Sonapur portion of the National Highway was overspeeding or was under any of those influences. But we can be very sure on one count that timely repairs of the highway could’ve prevented that accident and many others previously. It is also a noteworthy fact that the Guwahati-Nagaon-Jorhat stretch of the highway accounts for a major share of the total road accidents, despite being only 10% of the total length of National Highways in Assam and that this highway is the only road connecting Guwahati, the hub of the North East, with eastern Assam. Therefore, why worthy attention by the government has not been given to this is another matter to ponder upon.

The said primary cause of road accidents, that is impulsive overspeeding, is rooted in us like perhaps corruption, and so, solutions to the problem are all the harder to find. Speeding seems to have been an increasing function of the focused expressways and highways development which is rather ironical. Therefore, normal measures like the regular road safety week celebrations, putting up danger signs and boards along the nooks and corners, hefty increase in the penalties for traffic rule violations and even installation of space technology or CCTV cameras have not yielded the desire results, for the simple reason that in an overpopulated country implementation cum monitoring of most of the measures are well-nigh impossible.

Maybe, taking into account the huge  reawakening of the Indian youth, more initiatives from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) that has of late been creating a new kind of hope for the future of the country can reawaken the younger generations as a whole and inculcate in them the right ways to drive on. Once the drivers get full control of their lives, they can be in full control of their vehicles too. 

One thing is certain: nobody would probably like to behold vehicles spiral out of control and mowing down everything in front in the thoroughfares they have to frequent in the quest of life and means.