Road fatalities lowest in decade

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 16

Covid-19 seems to have proved a blessing in disguise for Punjab as the number of road accident deaths in 2020 was lowest in a decade.

As per a report prepared by the Punjab Government’s Traffic Adviser and presented at a seminar on Advanced Traffic Management Systems and Road Safety last week, the number of deaths due to road accidents came down by 13.85 per cent and the number of accidents came down by 18 per cent in 2020 when compared to 2019. Experts said one of the main factors was the three-month Covid lockdown in 2020.

As per the report, 6,348 accidents and 4,525 deaths took place in 2019. However, the next year, the number of accidents came down to 5,203 and deaths to 3,898.

Apart from this, there was a significant decrease in the number of seriously injured as well. The road accidents had left 2,655 people seriously injured in 2019. But the number came down to 1,737 in 2020. “There was over all 54% reduction in road accident fatalities during 69 days of curfew/lockdown in Punjab compared with its corresponding time last year,” said Naveed Asija, Traffic Adviser.