12% rise in deaths in Faridabad road mishaps

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 12

The number of accidents and deaths has been on the rise in the district this year.

An increase of 12.61 per cent has been recorded in the number of deaths in road mishaps till August this year in comparison to the corresponding period last year.

According to the Traffic Police Department, a total of 125 deaths and 267 injuries surfaced in the district against 111 deaths and 251 injuries in the corresponding period last year.

According to officials in the department, the number of accidents recorded till August this year is 303 as against 288 last year. There is an increase of around 5.21 per cent.

The percentage in the rise in the number of injuries in road mishaps has also surged by 6.37 per cent in this period. Around 267 persons got injured in this period in comparison to 251 last year.

Though the traffic police has identified several dark spots in the city, it is observed that the number of accidents on roads, other than NH-19 passing through the city, have been a cause of concern as 232 out of the total 303 accidents till August this year took place on city roads, resulting in the death of 95 persons.

Similarly, a total of 76 commuters lost their lives on internal roads in the corresponding period last year.

Attributing the increase in accidents to easing of lockdown restrictions and normalised movement of people on roads, accompanied with rampant violation of traffic rules, SK Sharma, district coordinator of Road Safety Organisation (RSO), an NGO working in this field, claimed that the authorities needed to work on several points in order to keep a tab on the problem.

Seeking immediate repairs of damaged patches and ensuring working of street lights, he said lack of active monitoring of traffic resulted in the violation of rules and accidents.

Suresh Kumar, DCP (Traffic), said: “Measures are being taken to bring down the number of accidents. Cops have been posted at all sensitive points. Legal action against offenders is also being speeded up.”