Probably for the first time in many years, Uttar Pradesh appears to have put the brakes on the rapid increase in road accidents and consequent deaths in the state that had been leading the country in terms of fatalities due to such mishaps.
As per the latest district-wise comparative road accident data prepared by the traffic and the transport departments here, a total of 22,655 people died and another 28,932 were injured in 42,572 cases of road accident in UP between January and December 2019.
In absolute terms, the number of accidents and deaths increased by 4 and 399, respectively, over 2018 though the number of persons injured dropped by 731 during the same period. However, the growth in road accidents and deaths reduced significantly in 2019.
An analysis of the data reveals that the increase in the number of accidents in 2019 over 2018 was almost nil at 0.01% while the growth in the number of deaths during the same period was reduced to just 1.79%. There was even negative growth of 2.47% in the number of injured persons.
The increase in the number of road accidents and deaths reported in 2018 was quite high at 11.84% and 10.59% respectively.
{{/usCountry}}The increase in the number of road accidents and deaths reported in 2018 was quite high at 11.84% and 10.59% respectively.
{{/usCountry}}Commenting on the report, Inspector-General, Traffic, Deepak Ratan said, “There is a direct correlation between the enforcement of rules and happening of road accidents and this is getting reflected very much in the accident figures of 2019.”
He said as compared to 2018, the number of challans issued to violators of traffic rules went up by 49% in 2019.
“Better enforcement, apart from an increasing awareness among people has paid rich dividends this time, though much still needs to be done,” he claimed.
A further analysis of the data shows that at least 35 of the total 75 districts registered a negative growth in the number of people who died in accidents in 2019 vis-à-vis 2018.
Shamli, Amroha and Hamirpur recorded the lowest growth of 36.17%, 28% and 22.64% respectively. The districts of Pilibhit, Muzaffarnagar and Sant Kabirnagar showed the highest growth in deaths at 33.69%, 31.43 and 30.47% respectively.
The number of road accidents declined in all the months except January, March, June, August and November.
Similarly, the number of deaths dropped in July, September, October and December while the number of injured people dropped in all the months, barring January, June, and August.
The number of road accidents, deaths and injured has especially fallen between September and December after the amended MV Act proposing hefty fines for traffic violations became effective in the country from September 1, 2019.
“The increase in fines under the amended MV Act, along with strict enforcement of the same, has obviously produced better results,” Deepak Ratan said.
A low growth in terms of the number of mishaps and deaths was reported earlier also. For example, in 2013, the number of deaths even registered a negative growth of 0.90% and the number of mishaps also grew marginally at 2.5%. In 2014, also they grew at 1.37% and 1.77% only. In recent years also, the number of deaths and accidents grew relatively slower at 4.8% and 8.98% respectively in 2017.