Over 10,000 killed on Delhi roads in 6 yrs: These stretches are most vulnerable

According to official figures of the Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru traffic police, there were 10,406 accidents in Delhi between 2011 and 2016. For the same period, Mumbai and Bengaluru registered 2,956 and 4,383 fatal accidents. The number of deaths could be higher because these are only cases.

Mumbai and Bengaluru may envy Delhi’s wide roads but it has also its own disadvantages. Road accident deaths in the capital outnumber the figures reported in the other two cities.

There are over 10 million registered vehicles in Delhi. Data shows that 10,000 fatal accidents took place in Delhi in the past six years, which is more than those in Mumbai and Bangalore combined.(Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

In the last six years, at least 10,000 persons died in road accidents across Delhi. The number is more than thrice compared to Mumbai and at least two times more in comparison to Bengaluru’s road fatalities.

According to official figures of the Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru traffic police, there were 10,406 accidents in Delhi between 2011 and 2016. For the same period, Mumbai and Bengaluru registered 2,956 and 4,383 fatal accidents. The number of deaths could be higher because these are only cases.

HT looks at the most vulnerable spots across Delhi to understand why the capital loses more lives compared to other cities. According to the traffic police data of 2014 and 2015, the Ring Road stretch from ISBT Kashmere Gate passing by Nigambodh Ghat and Majnu Ka Tila registered the most number of deaths. There were at least 32 fatal accidents reported on this hardly five-kilometre stretch. The number of non-fatal accidents at this stretch was at least 90.

Former senior IPS officer Maxwell Pereira, who served as the Delhi traffic police chief, said most accidents are reported here because of high pedestrian movement on the wide roads. “Near ISBT, people hardly use the flyover or the subway. People don’t follow the rules. Accident cases at that spot can be reduced only when police start issuing fines for jaywalking. Also there should be strict vigil by the police so that the deaths are reduced.”

A little ahead of inter-state bus terminus, near Majnu Ka Tila and the Monastery road, accidents are reported because the wide roads open into three or more junctions, according to Pereira.

Read: The madness must stop on Delhi’s killer roads

“In Mumbai or Bengaluru, the roads are linear and not radial unlike Delhi. Accidents are more in those cities but the fatalities are high in Delhi because of less congestion or the speed of vehicles on road. Mumbai has no avenue for accidents unlike Delhi. The intersections in Mumbai are residential unlike Delhi,” he said.

In Delhi, apart from ISBT-Majnu Ka Tila stretch, flyovers such as Barapullah, ITO, Shahdara and the road outside Jahangirpuri also reported deaths.

According to a 2015 study by the Delhi Traffic police, out of the 1,582 fatal accidents in which 1,622 persons had died, the number of pedestrians dead were 684. The second highest number of deaths were of two-wheeler riders.

Police had then observed that subways or foot-over-bridges were built after more than 4-5 kilometres.

Traffic police officials said that in a recent meeting, senior officials discussed that to prevent pedestrian deaths cops on the road would start issuing challans for jay walking.