Uttar Pradesh: Agra tops in road accident deaths caused by overspeeding

Kanpur heads the list of fatal road crashes due to use of mobile phone, Prayagraj in drunken driving deaths

Overspeeding is killing more people in Agra than in any other million-plus city in the state while the use of mobile phone during driving has emerged as the reason for the highest number of road accident deaths in Kanpur followed by Prayagraj.

Of the accident deaths in Uttar Pradesh in 2020, 38% were attributed to overspeeding. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

These facts were revealed by the transport department in its presentation in an inter-departmental meeting chaired by Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) chairman Justice (retired) AM Sapre here on Friday. Justice Sapre is a retired judge of the Supreme Court.

Prayagraj topped in deaths due to drunken driving, according to the presentation. Kanpur and Prayagraj were first and second in contributing to deaths due to driving on the wrong side among the million- plus cities in the state.

The committee was here to examine Uttar Pradesh’s preparedness to reduce number of accident deaths in the state that remains on the top in the country.

According the presentation on deaths due to different offences in the million-plus cities in UP, overspeeding claimed 1310 lives in Agra annually on the basis of last five years’ average. This figure is the highest among the million-plus cities in the state. Agra was followed by Kanpur (769), Meerut (752), Lucknow (712), Prayagraj (648), Ghaziabad (537) and Varanasi (276).

Overall, also, overspeeding, according to the same presentation, was found to be the single biggest reason for road accident deaths in the state. Of the accident deaths in the state in 2020, 38% were attributed to overspeeding and 40% to the same reason in 2021.

Among the million-plus cities, Kanpur topped the chart when it came to road accident deaths due to use of cell phone while driving. On an average, 588 people were found to have been killed annually in road accidents in the industrial city due to use of mobile phone while driving.

Kanpur was distantly followed by Prayagraj where 416 persons were found to have been killed for the same reason. It was followed by Varanasi (262), Lucknow (184), Agra (127), Meerut (109) and Ghaziabad (20).

The offence of mobile phone during driving remains the third biggest reason for accident deaths in U.P. The presentation showed that 9% of more than 20,000 people killed in road accidents in 2020 and 2021 died due to use of mobile phone.

When it came to accident deaths due to drunken driving, Prayagraj with 443 annual deaths topped the chart among the million-plus cities, followed by Kanpur (369), Meerut (311), Agra (174), Lucknow (168), Varanasi (154) and Ghaziabad (56).

In Kanpur, an average of 496 people were found to have been killed annually due to wrong-side driving, the highest, followed by Prayagraj (443), Agra (364), Lucknow (249) and Varanasi (154). After the presentation, Justice Sapre asked all the stakeholders to do their bit to reduce an increasing number of road accident deaths in U.P. He also met chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra on Friday.

“We analysed U.P’s road accident data for last five years and issued directions to the departments concerned to take all appropriate measures to contain road accident deaths in the state,” he said after emerging from the meeting with the chief secretary. He said the meeting with the chief secretary was with regard to some other issue.

Principal secretary, transport, L Venkateshwarlu said that all the stakeholders like the traffic police, PWD, NHAI, health department, UPSRTC and the transport department explained to the committee their next three years’ action plan to reduce road accident deaths in the state.”