Accidents dip, but more pedestrians die

BANGALORE: It's the meek who pay with their lives on Bangalore's roads. Statistics with the Bangalore city traffic police show that more than half the dead in accidents on city roads during 2013 were pedestrians. In fact, 92% of the dead were either pedestrians, two-wheeler riders or cyclists. This despite the number of road accidents going down by half during the past decade.
(thumbs down) NO SPACE FOR PEDESTRIANS
* 382 of 771 dead in road accidents in 2013 were pedestrians
* About 309 two-wheeler riders lost their lives; so did 19 cyclists
(thumbs up) FEWER CRASHES, INJURIES
* Endless crawl on city roads has reduced number of accidents (fatal and non-fatal) from 10,505 in 2003 to 5,230 in 2013
* No.of accidental deaths largely the same: 883 in 2003 and 771 in 2013
* No. of injured down: 7,980 people in 2003, 4,289 in 2013
DANGER TIME ZONE
* 3pm to 6pm: Most accidents take place in this window; about 944 during 2013
* 12noon to 3pm: 915 accidents
* 6pm to 9pm: 909 accidents
SPEED LIMIT
One of the reasons for fewer accidents is the limited speed with which automobiles move in the city due to congestion on the roads. There is also an increased enforcement by police on city roads, and certainly a rise in traffic rules awareness among motorists.
MN Sreehari | Traffic expert