Build hospitals along expressways to provide timely aid to accident victims: UP CM to officials

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed officials to take comprehensive measures to reduce road accidents.

He emphasised the need for building hospitals on both sides of expressways -- similar to food plazas -- to provide immediate medical aid to accident victims.

The chief minister issued the directions during a meeting of the State Road Safety Council that was attended by ministers, senior bureaucrats, divisional commissioners, district magistrates, police commissioners, and superintendents of police.

According to an official statement, Adityanath said in 2024, Uttar Pradesh recorded 46,052 road accidents, leading to 34,600 injuries and over 24,000 deaths.

He termed the figures "extremely tragic" and stressed the need for multi-departmental coordination to reduce accidents. He directed officials to identify and rectify black spots across the state's road network.

Every expressway should have hospitals on both sides, just like food plazas. Trauma centres, ambulances, and trained staff should be stationed at divisional headquarters hospitals, he said.

The highest fatalities in 2024 were reported from 20 districts, including Hardoi, Mathura, Agra, Lucknow, and Kanpur. These areas accounted for 42 per cent of total road deaths in the state, Adityanath said, citing road accident statistics.

Officials must analyse accident causes and raise awareness about road safety, he said, adding that district-level meetings must be held monthly, while divisional meetings should be conducted quarterly.

He expressed concern over the fact that six divisions -- Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Saharanpur, and Agra -- held only one meeting last year.

He further said, strict action should be taken against over-speeding, drunk driving, wrong-side driving, jumping red lights, and mobile phone use while driving. Unauthorised vehicles, overloaded trucks, and illegal buses must be removed from the roads.

He said liquor shops along highways should be closed down and oversized advertisement hoardings should be made smaller.

The Basic and Secondary Education Departments should incorporate traffic rules into school curricula while schools and colleges must organise road safety awareness activities, he said.

Verification of all e-rickshaw drivers should be prioritised to prevent underage driving, he said.

He directed that the number of cranes, patrolling vehicles, and ambulances on expressways and highways be increased and CCTV cameras be installed on all 93 National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) roads in the state, as currently, only four of them have cameras.

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