Road accident casualties saw 54% dip in lockdown in Punjab

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 4

In one of the positive effects of the Covid induced curfew and lockdown, casualties due to road accidents in the state had declined by a whopping 54 per cent, the government has confirmed.

From 805 deaths in road mishaps during the corresponding period in 2019, only 375 lives were lost in Punjab from March 21 to May 31, 2020, when the nationwide curfew/ lockdown was imposed, the official figures have revealed.

The report on Punjab Road Accidents and Traffic-2020, prepared by a team of Punjab Police, headed by the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Traffic Amardeep Singh Rai, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that the first phase of curfew/lockdown from March 21 to 31, 2020, had witnessed the maximum dip of 80 per cent in road accident fatalities in the state while the second phase of lockdown from April 1 to 30, 2020, saw 72 per cent decline and the third leg of the curfew/lockdown recorded 28 per cent slide in the deaths due to road accidents in the state as compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

While 20 persons had lost their lives from March 21 to 31, 2020, as compared to 100 deaths during the corresponding period in 2019, April 1 to 30, 2020, reported 99 fatalities as compared to 351 during the same period in 2019. The state recorded 256 deaths in road accidents from May 1 to 31, 2020, as compared to 354 casualties during the corresponding period in 2019.

The report further revealed that 69 persons had lost their lives, at a daily average of 2.7 deaths, during the first phase of the curfew/ lockdown in the state from March 22 to April 14, 2020, when no movement of vehicles was allowed.

The second phase of the curfew/lockdown from April 15 to May 3, when movement of goods vehicles was allowed, 66 road accident deaths were reported in the state, at an average of 3.5 casualties daily.

The third phase of the curfew/lockdown from May 4 to 17, when movement of passenger vehicles was also allowed till 7 pm, besides permission to ply goods vehicles, saw 117 fatalities in road mishaps, at a daily death rate of 8.4 persons.

The fourth and final phase of the curfew/lockdown from May 18 to 31, when inter-state movement of passenger vehicles was also allowed till 9 pm, besides continuation of goods vehicle movement, reported 130 casualties in road accidents, at a daily average of 9.3 deaths.

OFFICIALSPEAK

Punjab has seen a 15 per cent decline in road accident fatalities this year as compared to the corresponding period last year, but we are still losing around 11 precious lives each day. The adolescents and young adults remain the major casualties in road mishaps. — Amardeep Singh Rai, ADGP Traffic, Punjab

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