Curb road accidents by half in 2024 as compared to 2023, govt tells transport dept

According to the Noida traffic police data, In 2023, 1,176 accident cases were reported in which 470 people died and 858 were injured. In 2022, 437 people died in 1,122 accidents, while 856 sustained injuries in the district

To curb road accidents by at least 50% in 2024 as compared to 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government has directed the transport department to come out with a standard operating procedure (SOP) on road safety and rectify the road design faults that came to the fore in the aftermath of major accidents in which three or more people died, said the letter issued by the state government.

The government directed the transport department to ensure better road engineering, a more quicker response to road accidents, provision of medical help to the injured in the golden period, and awareness on road safety. (HT PHOTO)

According to the Noida traffic police data, In 2023, 1,176 accident cases were reported in which 470 people died and 858 were injured. In 2022, 437 people died in 1,122 accidents, while 856 sustained injuries in the district.

At the state-level, a total 44,534 accidents took place in 2023 in which 23,652 people died and 31,098 were injured, said the letter from the government.

It further said that the state of Uttar Pradesh recorded an increase of 6.7% in road accidents in 2023 as compared to 2022. The increase in deaths was 4.7% in 2023 as compared to 2022, and the increase in injuries was 9% in 2023 as compared to the previous year.

The government also formed the Uttar Pradesh Road Crash Investigation Scheme in October 2023, in which a district-level committee comprising officials of the traffic police, transport department, experts, road safety engineers, etc. would investigate each case of fatal road accident and submit a detailed report.

“Earlier, the police used to register an FIR and investigate the matter, but that investigation did not focus on technical issues such as road conditions, traffic violations, and technicalities of the vehicle,” said Dr Udit Narayan Pandey, assistant regional transport enforcement (ARTO) 2, Gautam Budh Nagar.

The government directed the transport department to ensure better road engineering, a more quicker response to road accidents, provision of medical help to the injured in the golden period, and awareness on road safety.

Deepak Shah, ARTO (enforcement), Gautam Budh Nagar, said, “The majority of road accidents took place due to speeding, drink driving, not wearing a helmet while riding a two-wheeler, and not using a seat belt in cars.”

“To curb the accidents in the district, we are continuously conducting drives to check driving licences and raising awareness among motorists to follow the traffic rules. The department conducts meetings with authorities to rectify road faults such as blackspots.” said ARTO Shah, adding that recently, a meeting was conducted to analyse the blackspots in the city but the data from two departments did not match, so it was advised to survey the blackspots again to address the issue.

According to the data provided by the Noida traffic police, there are 11 blackspots in the district, including one on NH-24, under the jurisdiction of Sector 58 police station.