Road accidents: India
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Accidents, road: all India
1 death every 4.5 min in road accidents ‘In 2008, Country Witnessed 4.85L Road Accidents In Which 1.2L People Died’ Dipak Kumar Dash | TNN
New Delhi: Indian roads witness one road mishap every minute and one death in accidents every four and a half minutes, according to the latest report of the road, transport and highways ministry.
The report, which was released this week by the transport research wing of the ministry, said that in 2008, the country witnessed 4.85 lakh road accidents in which 1.2 lakh people lost their lives. And more than half of the road accident victims are in the age group of 25 and 65 years, the ‘key wage earning and child raising age group’.
Similarly, the report estimates that these road accidents left 5.2 lakh people injured.
The annual road accident document also points to high fatalities — almost 65% of the all road deaths — on national and state highways in comparison to other roads. In 2008, while 42,670 persons died on NHs, the state highways claimed 34,081 lives. ‘‘The deaths are on rise despite the ministry spending more on road safety in the last six years. We are not analyzing the actual reasons behind road accidents. Had technical people with road safety expertise been in-charge of the affairs, the situation would not have slipped to this alarming level,’’ said a senior ministry official.
While in 2004-05, the ministry spent Rs 35 crore out of the allocated fund of Rs 39.7 crores, in 2008-09 it shot to Rs 54.8 crore. The report singles out fault of the drivers as the major reason of road deaths. This claimed 89,360 persons in 2008. Fault of cyclists, pedestrians, motor vehicles and bad road and weather conditions were also identified as some of the factors for fatalities on roads across the country.
However, ministry sources said that in the absence of proper investigation of road mishaps, local police put the onus of these accidents on the drivers. ‘‘The report is silent on how the governments’ failure to regulate the issuance of driving licences and lack of proper training of drivers are contributing to this high occurrence of road mishaps,’’ officials said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the ministry has set an ambitious target to bring down road deaths by 50% in the next two years. For this purpose, the budget estimate for 2010-11 has been increased to Rs 180 crore from Rs 74 crores in the previous year. RISKY ROADS Total road deaths in 2008: 1,06,591 persons Share of national highways: 42,670 persons Share of state highways: 34,081 persons People who died due to drivers’ fault: 89,360
Accidents, road: Delhi
Study shows fewer accidents in 2010 Delhi Police Says Number Of Mishaps Down By 15.5% In First Three Months Megha Suri Singh | TNN
New Delhi: Delhi roads seem to be becoming much safer if the accident figures compiled by the Delhi Police for the first three months of this year are to be believed. The study reveals that the number of accidents reported this year — 1,450 — is the lowest the city has seen in the past decade. Traffic police attributes it to increasing congestion and therefore reduced speeds, phase-wise completion of large construction projects and large presence of cops on the roads during rush hours.
A look at the figures reveals that 495 people have been killed in accidents this year (till March 31) and another 1,330 people suffered injuries. There has been a decline of about 15.5% in the total number of accidents. Trucks continue to be the major killers as they have been involved in 92 accidents, followed by Bluelines with 24 accidents and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses with 8 accidents.
Over the years, the highest number of accidents has been reported in the wee hours of the day (midnight to 4am) and this year too, 65 accidents occurred during this time. But the maximum number of accidents — 120 — have taken place between 9pm and 12pm. This is about eight accidents less than the figure for last year.
Senior traffic police officials feel it is not possible to attribute the reduction in accidents to any one reason. But a recent mandate to post traffic policemen at all the intersections in the city during the morning and evening rush hour could have been a factor.
‘‘We have shifted the focus from enforcement to traffic management during the morning and evening rush hour. Now, every traffic signal in the city is physically manned by policemen. Wewould have taken a hit on prosecution, but the focus is on better traffic management,’’ said an official.
Police sources say that the average speed on several key corridors like Ring Road, where people could earlier speed has also reduced due to congestion and traffic jams. This, they said, also could have translated into fewer accidents.
Road accidents: 2010-12
Roads in Punjab most fatal in India
Dipak Kumar Dash | TNN
The Times of India 2013/08/16
New Delhi: Chances of getting killed in a road accident is the highest in Amritsar and in the country’s Mercedes capital Ludhiana.
Latest data on road fatalities shows that at least six people died in every 10 road crashes in these two cities in 2012 against only three in Delhi, which recorded maximum fatalities in 2012. Though Mumbai recorded the highest number of accidents among 50 million-plus cities, the fatality rate was only 2%.
The ‘Road Accidents in India’ report prepared by the transport research wing of the road ministry also shows that roads in Punjab are proving to be fatal for commuters. The severity of accident – deaths per 100 mishaps – in the state has been increasing in the past four years. While it was 65.9% in 2009, this increased to 76% in 2012.
“Ludhiana and Amritsar are the worst examples. But the state as a whole is also losing over 4,800 lives in road accidents. We have heterogeneous traffic, little enforcement of noentry timings and huge problem of drink driving,” said Dr Kamalzit Singh Soi, vice-chairman of Punjab Road Safety Council.
The industrial city of Ludhiana has around 1.4 million vehicles for its 3.5 million people, of whom 20-30% are migrant labourers. Soi said traffic coming from six districts passed through the city and almost 23 km of the under-expansion Panipat-Jalandhar highway runs through the urban area.
“On top of this, annually around 35 crore bottles of liquor are sold in the state that has a population of only 2.7 crore. Out of this, around 1.49 crore are women. So, we can make out how many times and how many people drive in a drunken state,” he said.
Cases of drunk driving accidents decline
The continuous decline in accidents caused due to intake of alcohol/drugs in the past three years has come as a breather for the government. While in 2010 such violation caused 31,000 accidents, the number of such mishaps reduced to 23,979 last year. Even the fatalities have fallen from 9,976 in 2010 to 7,835 in 2012. Uttar Pradesh reported maximum fall in fatalities in this category from 4,635 in 2011 to 2,400 last year. TNN
Road accidents: 2012
Delhi is the road death capital too
Dipak Kumar Dash TNN 2013/06/25
New Delhi: New Delhi besides being the capital of the country holds the dubious distinction of being the road death capital. In the year 2012, the city recorded 1,527 deaths in accidents.
Latest data on accidental deaths released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that India’s overall record deteriorated further, with the toll crossing 1.39 lakh during 2012 in comparison to little over 1.36 lakh in the previous year. Chennai seems to be moving closer to the national capital registering 1,401 road fatalities in 2012.
“While Delhi has witnessed high growth of vehicles resulting in slowing down of traffic, the situation is different in Chennai. Roads have become better and the speed of vehicles has increased,” said a road transport ministry official.
The data shows that at all India level, Tamil Nadu has overtaken Uttar Pradesh registering 16,175 deaths during 2012. UP reported 15,109 deaths while Andhra recorded 15,000 fatalities and Maharashtra ranked four among the states with 13,936 deaths.
The legal aspect
Compensation a right of mishap victims: HC
Shibu Thomas, TNN | Aug 29, 2013
The Times of India MUMBAI: Victims of road accidents and their next of kin have a right under law to claim compensation, the Bombay high court has ruled. Twenty-three years after a Yavatmal-based bank officer lost his life in a road accident involving an MSRTC bus, Justice A P Bhangale ordered the state transport undertaking to pay Rs 6.51 lakh, along with interest, to his wife and three children.
The judge threw out the MSRTC's contention that the deceased bank officer, Mukundrao Dongre (38), could not be categorized as a third party eligible for compensation under the third-party risk insurance rule.
"I find it difficult to accept the submission that the victim was a person 'other than third party'," said the judge. "The Motor Vehicle Act provides for mandatory third-party insurance, which is compulsory for any motor vehicle owner. The objective of the act is to ensure that the third party receives just and fair compensation from the owner of the offending motor vehicle and receives compensation."
The court said the law protects victims of road accidents. "The right of the victim of a road accident to claim compensation is statutory. The legislature in its wisdom enacted the (law) to protect the victims of road accidents, who may be travelling in the vehicle or using the road, and thereby made it obligatory that no motor vehicle shall be used unless the vehicle is compulsorily insured against third-party risk."
The court said the MSRTC could not escape paying compensation by claiming that the other vehicle was responsible for the accident. "If liability is denied, it is for the MSRTC to plead and prove rashness and negligence on the part of the driver of the jeep if according to it the jeep was the offending motor vehicle... Mere allegation is not enough."
Mere absence of or fake or invalid driving license or disqualification of the driver for driving at the relevant time are not in themselves defences available to the MSRTC against the third parties."
