Chandigarh fares worst among UTs in decline in road mishaps

Recording 304 road accidents in 2019, Chandigarh saw a drop of just 4.1% as compared to 317 mishaps in 2018.

Chandigarh fared the worst in terms of rate of decline in road accidents — both fatal and non-fatal—among all Union Territories between 2018 and 2019.

All UTs collectively saw a drop of 13.3%, much higher than Chandigarh’s, though the national decline stood at only 1.6%. (HT FILE)

This has been revealed in the Accidental Deaths and Suicides Report in India 2019 released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Tuesday.

Recording 304 road accidents in 2019, Chandigarh saw a drop of just 4.1% as compared to 317 mishaps in 2018.

All UTs collectively saw a drop of 13.3%, much higher than Chandigarh’s, though the national decline stood at only 1.6%.

Chandigarh has also reported the highest increase (71.1%) in accidental deaths among all states and UTs. The figures stood at 242 and 414 in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Manoj Kumar Meena, officiating senior superintendent of police (SSP), traffic, said, “It is important to see the record over the past five years. Every year, the number of road accidents in Chandigarh goes down. It is an achievement to continue this decelerating trend. More efforts are needed to make sure this continues.”

DRIVER FEEDBACK SYSTEMS TO BE EXPANDED

Meena said police had recently built a divider with barricades in Sector 25 (West) to better manage traffic there, and were looking to expand the driver feedback system. “Ever since the driver feedback system was installed in December 2019, some of the most dangerous roads of the city reported no fatal accidents, which is an encouraging news,” he said.

According to data provided by traffic police, 28 people have died in road accidents this year as compared to 64 till the end of August last year. Deputy superintendent of police (DSP, traffic) Kewal Krishan said, “There were fewer fatal accidents this year due to the two-month lockdown. We want to keep such deaths under 75 this year.”

Navdeep Asija, member of the state road safety committee, said: “Right now, the city needs to make infrastructure changes to reduce the number of accidents. Cycle tracks make cyclists safer, but junctions are still dangerous. Traffic calming devices like table tops are the need of the hour.”

Kamal Soi, member of National Road Safety Council, said: “Any reduction is good. Police enforcement on Chandigarh roads is bearing results and the authorities need out-of-the-box solutions to further reduce the number of accident.”