Fatal accidents have registered a steep rise in the early stages of 2019 in the Millennium City. According to the official data, 239 cases have been registered till March 15. These incidents have claimed 97 lives while 16 were seriously injured. The Gurugram police, as well as experts, have identified 15 dangerous spots on the expressway where the fatal accidents took place.

The number of fatal accidents was also shocking in 2018 when 446 deaths occurred. However, in 2017 around 421 deaths were reported due to accidents. A total number of 1,096 accident cases were registered in the previous year while 1,133 persons were injured. The number of injured was 1,114 in 2017.

Meanwhile, experts said that the increase in high-speed roads and lack of traffic police was the main cause of accidents.

Officials also blamed the high density of population and increasing number of vehicles for the accidents. Narsinghpur village and Kherki Daula toll were among the major accident-prone spots where around 40 to 50 fatal accidents have been recorded every year. These two spots have recorded most number of fatal accidents on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway.

“The Delhi-Gurugram Expressway is one of the busiest stretches in the district. Three underpasses at Iffco Chowk, Signature tower and Rajiv Chowk on the National Highway have been operational. As of now, these projects are playing a major role to erase traffic volume on the carriageway,” Subhash Boken spokesperson of the Gurugram police, said.

Although, In November, the Gurugram police set up seven assistance booths on the National Highway. There are six PCR vans and one bike each and three ambulances deployed on the highway. “The NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) should improve the condition of NH-48 and concretize those stretches which are in poor shape so that the number of accidents could be decreased,” a traffic official, said.

“The city requires more traffic police personnel to control the current traffic problems. At present, there are only 500 traffic police personnel in the city to manage entire district traffic. The work on various projects in the district are underway these stretches will provide a big relief to commuters in Gurugram,” a senior NHAI official said.