Road accidents, fatalities touch a 5-year high in Ghaziabad
In 2017, 930 mishaps left 395 persons dead, 701 survived with injuries; rowdiness, bad infrastructure blamed for the rise in road accidents
Zaif Khan, the only son among seven siblings of his family, would have turned 26 on Thursday. Khan was among 395 persons who died in accidents that took place on city roads, highways or the state highways in 2017.
Around 4.45am on April 5, 2017, Zaif was on his way to a gym in his Hyundai Verna car when it was suspected to be hit by a moving vehicle following which it collided with an electricity pole near Ram Manohar Lohiya Park, Sahibabad. Khan’s charred body was recovered from the vehicle by the police, as he could not get out of the vehicle during the incident.
“Zaif was the only son among seven siblings in our extended family, which comprises the families of my three other brothers. We miss him a lot and think about him whenever his sisters visit us during festivals. We sometimes think how he would have supported us in their marriages, had he been alive,” Mohammad Zubair, Khan’s father, said.
“The accident destroyed all our hopes. He was a flight manager with an airline and a budding cricketer. We initially suspected that it could be a case of hit-and-run case. But later, we decided not to pursue the matter further,” he said.
Like Zaif, 394 other persons died in accidents in 2017. The rate of accidents in Ghaziabad has not decreased and a five-year high of 930 incidents was recorded in 2017.
In the 930 accidents, 395 persons died while 701 survived with injuries. The number of injured persons was also at a five-year high.
“There are many instances wherein people die due to others’ negligence and in other cases, due to their own negligence. It is a marked feature in Ghaziabad that people openly flout rules and regulations. The infrastructure is also not up to the mark,” Vikrant Sharma, a lawyer, said.
In another major accident on the intervening night of January 27 and 28, 2017, a speeding Audi Q7 SUV hit an autorickshaw, killing a businessman, his engineer cousin and their family friend – a techie with HCL, Noida. The autorickshaw driver was also killed in the accident that took place near the Hindon canal in Indirapuram.
According to the ministry of road transport & highways’ publication ‘Road Accident in India-2016,’ persons in the age group of 18-35 years accounted for 46.3% of fatalities, while those in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for a 68.6% of the total and those in the age group of 18-60 years accounted for 83.3% of the total number of fatalities.
“In 2018, we hope to bring in major improvements in the traffic infrastructure, with the revamp of major crossings such as Mohan Nagar, Raj Nagar Extension and have even proposed flyovers for the purpose. The situation of police being short-staffed has also been sent to the headquarters and more staff may be posted here. We are also widening major roads and putting up new traffic signals besides making the old ones functional,” Shyam Narayan Singh, superintendent of police (traffic), said.
Based on the accidents and fatalities from the 2014-2016 period, the traffic police have also identified 16 major accident-prone spots.