Fatalities in road accidents rise by 5% in city
| Date :21-Jan-2020 |
By Dheeraj Fartode :
250 killed, 1042 injured in road accidents in 2019
ROAD accident fatalities in Nagpur city rose by 5 per cent in just one year. A total of 250 persons were killed in road accidents last year as against 238 killed in year 2018. In 2018, 221 fatal accident were reported in the city but the number went up to 233 in 2019. The number of people injured in such accidents also went up to 103 last year against 83 in year 2018.
A road safety expert said that just like any other metropolitan city, Nagpur too is facing big challenge of road safety and streamlining of vehicular traffic. Poor engineering of roads, people not obeying traffic rules, increasing vehicular population and law enforcement agency’s failure to enforce traffic rules on rash-drivers are the biggest challenges for Nagpur. “The government needs to initiate action against contractors and agencies for poor engineering of roads. Similarly, people should also follow traffic rules and stop indulging in rash driving to save themselves,” he said.
According to Regional Transport Office (RTO), the City has more than 17 lakh registered vehicles on road. Last year, massive 95,000 vehicles were added to the total including 72,559 two-wheelers as many people are relying on personal vehicles in the absence of a well-integrated mass transport system across the city. As per the report of Nagpur Police, the city recorded 401 serious accidents last year with drop of 9.07 per cent against 444 accidents in 2018. A total of 509 persons were seriously injured in such accidents last year. Serious accidents are those in which the injured person requires hospitalisation. Interestingly, minor accidents recorded a drop of 18 per cent last year.
As against 417 minor accidents in 2018, the city recorded 342 minor accidents. A top ranked police official said that the numbers were quite different than regular accident statistics. “If the fatal accidents are increasing by 5 per cent, how could it be possible that minor accidents are showing decline of massive 20 per cent,” he questioned. Commenting on the statistics, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Traffic Chinmay Pandit told ‘The Hitavada’ that speeding was the most important factor causing road fatalities in the city. “Many persons are regularly violating traffic rules including lane cutting and wrong side driving.
This indiscipline is being countered by traffic police regularly,” he claimed. “We have started scientific study of each and every accidents to find out the reasons. As many as 40 black and hot spots have been identified so far. A Road Safety Committee has been formed which is dealing with bad engineering of roads,” he said. “The Nagpur Police have decided to increase action against traffic rule violators in year 2020. We believe that an accident should not be just treated as crime or accident but as a lesson to improve road conditions and to save human lives,” he opined.
Method of analysis of road accidents Post an accident in the city, concerned police station registers the case as per the established procedure, DCP Pandit said. “Thereafter, Police Inspector of concerned Traffic Control Branch visits the spot to analyse the reasons that led to accident. The survey is not limited to error of either driver but field officers are directed to study spot’s topography, in case that is cause of accident,” he said. The aim is to prevent recurrence of mishaps at same spot and we want to eliminate the possibilities of fault in road engineering or any other factor. The field office after completing the study submits the findings to the DCP’s office. The report from field office is then forwarded with recommendations to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), NHAI and PWD for further action, as often civil works are needed to rectify faults in roads.