Delhi again tops in fatalities due to accidents, up 18% | India News

NEW DELHI: Delhi reported the highest number of deaths due to accidents among cities with a population of over a million last year. A report of the Union road transport and highways ministry also said that the total number of road accidents in the city last year was around 18% higher than in 2021. Experts responded to this by saying that fixing accountability and scientifically analysing the cause of rising accidents was important.
The city reported 4,720 accidents in 2021 compared with 5,652 in 2022.According to the ministry report, 1,461 people were killed and 5,201 were injured in last year’s accidents. In 2021 and 2022, Delhi reported the highest number of deaths owing to accidents in cities in the category.Road condition, human error and vehicle condition were attributed as the cause of the accidents. Human error meant speeding, drunk driving, driving into oncoming traffic, jumping the red light and using mobile phones while driving. Most of the accidents occurred between 6pm and 9pm.
Rohit Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Education, said, “Fixing accountability is a must. We currently don’t know which department or authority is responsible for different issues. In the end, it comes down to passing the buck. In 2021 too, a ministry report had pointed out that 46% of accidents in the city comprised hit-and-run cases. We have to look beyond the increase and decrease in numbers and analyse them to find out a logical solution”.

Baluja added that when there was a disease, the doctors had to look at the cause of the disease, not just its symptoms. “The diagnosis is rudimentary and not scientific. Regarding the reasons behind the accidents, apart from faulty roads, road traffic violations there are various other causes of accidents,” he said.
According to Prince Singhal, founder of Community Against Drunken Driving, if we analyse the fatal road accidents data, incidence had slightly dipped during the pandemic but otherwise accidents had been consistently rising since 2000. “The data also shows that accidents caused by drunk driving have also gone up significantly, especially during the night hours. The so-called car-o-bar, or drinking in a car, is common among Delhi drivers, whether commercial or private vehicles and often among cab drivers late at night,” noted Singhal. “There is a direct correlation between visible and effective police presence, which unfortunately is lacking in the capital. The ratio is abysmal because there are just around 80,000 policemen for 20 crore vehicles in the city.”