Bhubaneswar: January is nationally observed as road safety month, but Odisha’s latest figures reveal a grim irony. The state recorded an unprecedented 18% rise in road accident fatalities during the road safety month—the steepest increase ever during the month-long campaign. Odisha police data shows that the state saw 561 deaths in Jan 2024, which rose modestly to 582 in Jan 2025. However, this year the toll escalated sharply to 688.District-wise, Mayurbhanj topped the list with 55 deaths, up from 33 last year. Keonjhar reported 50 fatalities compared to 39, while Ganjam saw 45 deaths, nearly double the 23 recorded in Jan 2025. In contrast, accident deaths declined in Cuttack city, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Puri, Balasore, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Koraput, Sundargarh, and Rourkela.Officials of the transport department attribute the reason to motorists’ persistent disregard for road safety rules despite enforcement drives and awareness measures. “Where enforcement was intensified, accidents dropped. Elsewhere, rash driving and poor discipline negated our efforts,” a senior official said. Road safety expert Chinmay Rath slammed the transport department. “It is embarrassing to see deaths spike during road safety month despite meetings, awareness drives, slogans, celebrations and campaigns. Even the MoU signed with IIT Madras in December 2024 has yet to deliver results,” he said.Rath pointed out that transport minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena had informed the assembly on March 26 that daily fatalities rose from 17 in 2024 to 18 in 2025. “This January alone saw 22 deaths per day, raising questions on the outcome of crores of rupees being spent on the engagement of agencies and consultants,” he noted. The transport department reiterated its commitment, highlighting IIT Madras’s initiatives such as the ‘zero accident day’ campaign and a newly-launched road safety dashboard that allows citizens to flag poor road conditions and missing signage. The platform also provides analytics to identify accident hotspots.“Our efforts are continuing. Road safety is a shared responsibility. Government measures can only succeed if motorists comply with norms,” the official stressed. According to officials, police and RTOs have been asked to form special teams to target the major causes of accidents, including speeding, drunk driving, riding without helmets, driving on the wrong side, illegal parking, mobile phone use while driving, and overloading. Enforcement has been intensified at accident-prone spots, highways, industrial zones, city roads, intersections, market areas, and bus stands. Heavy vehicles engaged in mining and construction are under particular scrutiny for licence compliance and load regulations.
