The death of Union Minister Gopinath Munde in a road accident on Tuesday morning has once again exposed the vulnerable and insecure roads of Delhi. In the last three years, 5,720 people have lost their lives in road accidents in the Capital. As per data, 663 people have been reported dead in fatal accidents till May 15 this year, which means on an average five people died in road accidents in Delhi daily.
Total 21,783 accidents took place during last three years (2011-2013) which claimed 5,720 lives. Approximately 663 people have died in road mishaps till May 15 while in the previous (2013) 616 people were reported dead in road mishaps.
“After the implementation of various regulatory measures and special enforcement drives against drunken driving there has been a decrease in the number of fatal accidents. The primary reasons for accidents are the ignorance and immaturity of drivers, who end up losing their lives and that of others,” said Taj Hassan, Special Commissioner of Delhi Police.
According to the officials, most of the fatal accidents are reported during lean hours - 11 am to 5 pm. Nearly 124 accidents have been recorded till May 15, 2014. As there is less number of traffic policemen at night and zero traffic personnel deployment, the number of road accident is comparatively high. As per the statistics available, so far (May 15) the figure of fatal accidents have touched 116-mark this year. “Till May 15 this year, there have been 76 mishaps during the early hours of 4 am and 8 am. During 8 am and 11 am, 72 cases were reported,” said a senior Traffic Police official.
“We frequently launch special drive against offenders particularly drunken driving, which certainly helped us to bring number the fatality rate on roads,” said Hassan.