1 death per day on Nagpur roads in 5 years

NAGPUR: Nearly 1,500 people lost their lives in road accidents in the last five years. This roughly translates into one person being killed in mishaps on city roads every day.

In the same period, nearly one lakh people were caught driving under the influence of alcohol in the city. About Rs11 crore was recovered from them between 2012 and March 2017.

The data has been revealed by the office of DCP (Traffic) in an

RTI

reply to activist Abhay Kolarkar. He had sought information about number of accidents, deaths due to these accidents, types of vehicles involved in accidents, types of traffic offences registered and cases of helmetless riders.

Kolarkar said, the department needs to analyse the data and come up with effective measures to prevent fatalities on road. “Checks during festivities are all right but the data on deaths is concerning. The cops need to figure out why so many people are getting killed and come up with effective measures,” he said.

According to the RTI data, most of the accidents can be attributed to citizens’ apathy towards road safety and rise in number of two-wheelers. Though the department has data about the types of vehicle involved in the accidents for only last one and half years, it shows truck and two-wheelers topping the list. Between January 2016 and March 2017, 274 trucks/matadors and 171 two-wheelers were involved in accidents.

Data regarding helmetless riders, too, point to citizens’ carelessness about traffic safety. In 2016, which saw the helmet drive intensifying in the city, over two lakh riders were fined a whopping Rs3.58 crore. The offence came under control to large extent this year with just 2,039 cases yielding Rs1.35 lakh till March.

Road accidents are also on the rise in the last five years. The year 2016 saw the highest number of accidents at 1,373 claiming 310 lives and leaving 1,510 injured. So far, 58 have died and 348 have been injured in 331 accidents this year. During 2012 to 2016, 2012 recorded the lowest number of accidents at 1084 that took 280 lives. The lowest number of deaths in accidents was recorded at 260 in 2015.

Traffic experts believe the fine recovered over the years can be utilized in the upkeep of traffic signals and road repairs.

According to sources, the

NMC

is annually spending Rs86lakh in maintaining traffic signals. The fine recovered by traffic cops under a single head of drunk driving can take care of this civic expenditure for at least 10 years.