Ludhiana: Road accidents claimed 249 lives in eight months

Tribune News Service

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Ludhiana, September 17

What appears to be a serious development, road mishaps snuffed out 249 lives in the past eight months in the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana Commissionerate. Hence, on an average, one person was killed in a day.

Rash driving, overspeeding, drunken driving or haphazard parking on roads, especially highways, are said to be the causes behind these accidents.

As per the month-wise data of accidents obtained by The Tribune on Sunday, the Commissionerate limits consist of 28 police stations, including rural area police stations of Dehlon, Sahnewal, Koom Kalan and Meharban.

“The city witnessed as many as 336 road accidents from January 1 to August 31. In the mishaps, 243 suffered fatal injuries, 62 grievous injuries, 20 minor and five suffered normal injuries. Of the injured, 249 lost their lives. Of these, most of them died on the spot,” reveals a police report.

Interestingly, in 226 of the 336 accidents, as many as 138 persons had died as two or more vehicles were involved in collisions and the police registered cases of causing death by negligence under Section 304-A the IPC and a few cases were registered under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC against errant drivers. While in 110 accidents, which snuffed out 111 lives, the police had initiated inquest proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPc as the mishaps occurred due to the negligence of the deceased as they might have rammed their vehicle into trees or roadside dividers, or due to any other natural cause.

It is learnt that the Ludhiana police had been devising a strategy to eliminate the 77 black spots in the city so that commuters can drive safely but on the other side, the police have also been urging the commuters to drive responsibly on roads.

Major road mishaps

On May 12, a six-year-old boy died while his mother Monica (41), vice-principal at a private school, suffered severe injuries after a speeding truck hit their scooter near Fortis Hospital on the Chandigarh road.

On July 7, Prabhjot Singh, driver at the DPRO, Ludhiana office, was crushed by rashly driven Mahindra Bolero Pik-up vehicle in Sahnewal. Two others suffered critical injuries in the mishap.

On August 31, a Toyota Fortuner rammed into a divider on the Chandigarh road, killing a businessman Surinder Dhillon, on the spot.

On September 12, a speeding Mahindra Scorpio rammed into a tree, killing two persons on the spot and injuring one critically in Moti Nagar.