Highest spike in road deaths in Jamshedpur
B’luru Saw Biggest Dip In Fatalities In 2017
The steel city of Jamshedpur recorded the highest spike in road deaths among the 50 million-plus cities while Bangalore saw the biggest dip in fatalities in 2017 as compared to the previous year, according to the latest report of road accidents in India. Delhi retained the top rank while Chennai and Jaipur registered second and third maximum number of road deaths last year. Data show that most cities of Maharashtra, including Nashik, Nagpur, Mumbai and Pune, recorded lesser number of road deaths. Same was the case with Gujarat where Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat registered fewer fatalities. The two cities of Punjab, which are known for people owning expensive cars — Amritsar and Ludhiana -—also saw a decline in road deaths. However, cities like Dhanbad, Varanasi, Faridabad, Kannur and Srinagar recorded significantly higher number of accidents and fatalities in 2017 over 2016. According to the report based on data provided by state police departments, there were 2,872 fewer deaths in 2017 as compared to the previous year and around half of the people killed in road accidents, which was about 73,800, were in the age group of 18-35 years. Fifteen states, including UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, MP, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra and Gujarat, accounted for 90% of total road fatalities. The composition of 15 states largely remain same with that of 2016 except for Kerala, which moved out with Chhatisgarh entering the club last year. An analysis of the report shows two-wheeler occupants were not just the most impacted road users in accidents, this category of vehicle also caused the maximum number of crashes last year. The accidents caused by two-wheelers claimed 44,092 lives in 2017 and left almost 55,500 seriously injured. As per the annual accident report, a maximum 48,746 two-wheeler occupants died in crashes and that was highest among all categories of road users. The number of car occupants killed was around 26,900. About 17,200 truck and lorry occupants were killed in accidents, the report said. Road safety experts said the actual number of deaths could be more and the present system of data collection in form of FIRs needs to be changed. “The source of data must change from the police to the health system to accurately capture the number of deaths,” said Piyush Tiwari of Save Life Foundation. Rohit Baluja of Institute of Road Traffic and Education said the situation won’t improve until the government puts in place a robust system for scientific investigation of accidents.
Source: Times of India, 10/10/2018
