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Road fatalities in Chandigarh dip by half to 53 in 2020 over 2019
Enforcement has increased and a fall in road fatality was to be expected in Chandigarh, says experts, adding that 50 First-Information Reports (FIRs) registered 2020, the lowest since 1976.
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Chandigarh Road fatalities have dropped from 104 in 2019 to 53 in 2020, as per the ‘Road Safety in Chandigarh 2020’ report released by the traffic police on Friday. Traffic was constrained in view of the Covid-9 pandemic from April to May, with 50 First-Information Reports (FIRs) registered in the year, the lowest since 1976, when traffic volume was a fraction of today.
The number of crash related calls to the PCR was 8,240 is also half of 15,794 calls in 2019. Senior superintendent of police (SSP, Traffic) Manisha Choudhary said, Vehicular restrictions due to Covid pandemic contributed to lower fatalities in 2020. However, continued efforts in areas of enforcement, road safety awareness and road engineering interventions have also helped us in bringing down fatalities by half in the last decade.”
National Road Safety Council member Kamaljeet Soi said, “Apart from Covid, we see the traffic police turning to hi-tech speed cameras and e-challaning. Enforcement has increased and a fall in fatality figures was to be expected,” he said.
Speeding continues to remain the main cause of fatal accidents in the city. In 2019, 95% of all fatal accidents were caused by speeding; this dipped marginally to 92% in 2020.
Road safety activist Harpreet Singh said, “Due to good infrastructure and wide roads speeding has become a problem in the city. Behavioural changes are needed and the traffic police must think of re-introducing speeding nakas like before to change people’s behaviour.”
SSP Choudhary added “We will analyse the accident prone areas and take corrective actions in terms of deployment and engineering intervention. We are already deploying night nakas based on accident-prone location analysis and are in the process of purchasing night-vision radar guns to capture speeding violations at night and new Handycams as well. Smart City project will help us in preventing accidents.”
TWO-WHEELERS MOST DANGEROUS
Two-wheelers remained the most dangerous mode of transport with 43% of fatalities involving these, from 44% in 2019. Of 22 two-wheeler fatalities, eight were without helmet. Over 22% of all fatalities were pedestrians, 19% were cyclists and 7% were rehri-pullers. In 2019, this was 34% pedestrians, 10% were cyclists and 1% were rickshaw pullers.
Cars caused the most accidents. In 60% of all fatalities the vehicle of the accused was a light motor vehicle (32 of 53 fatalities). 17% fatalities were caused by trucks, 8% fatalities by lorries and 4% by buses in 2020.
CHANDIGARH VEHICLES MAJOR CULPRITS THIS YEAR
In 2019, 41% of the fatal accidents were caused by vehicles from Punjab and Haryana, but in 2020 the number went down to 32%. Vehicles from Chandigarh caused 18 of the 50 fatal accidents which is 36%. Nights remained the most dangerous with 14 of 50 fatal accidents between 9pm and midnight and 12 accidents between 6pm and 9pm. Over 57% fatal accidents were reported during night hours; Of the fatalities, 87% were male and 13% female.
