Punjab figures at 3rd spot in road fatalities

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) Report-2023 has painted a grim picture for Punjab in terms of road accident deaths, with the state emerging at third position after Mizoram and Bihar. Among cities, Ludhiana is at third spot after Agra and Asansol.

The report suggests alarming trends for Ludhiana with 80 per cent fatality rate. In the industrial hub, 402 people lost their lives in the 504 reported accidents. The state, on the other hand, has 78 per cent fatality rate. In 6,276 accidents that were reported, 4,906 lives were lost, meaning nearly eight out of every 10 road accidents in Punjab result in death, turning its roads into what experts describe as “graveyards of innocent lives”.

Expressing anguish over the high rate, Kamal Soi, international road safety expert and BJP Punjab spokesperson, said: “These are not just numbers, they are fathers who never returned home, mothers whose children are now orphans and young lives cut short before they even began. Ludhiana, my own city, has today earned the shameful tag of being India’s third-most dangerous city to drive in. As a Punjabi, my heart bleeds; as a road safety expert, I am alarmed; and as a BJP spokesperson, I am angry at the apathy of the state government. This is nothing less than a massacre on the roads of Punjab.”

The report, Soi stressed, was a mirror of the government’s failure to prioritise road safety. He listed key shortcomings, which include: No strict enforcement against overspeeding, drunk driving and rash driving, neglected black spots, blind curves and unsafe junctions, poor trauma care and emergency response and corruption and mismanagement in Transport and Traffic Departments.

The road safety expert said, “The government has blood on its hands. Road safety has never been their priority. They can play politics, but they cannot bring back 4,906 lost lives.”