Amid all the negativity surrounding the Covid-induced lockdown, the restrictions have come as a blessing in disguise in a way as the number of accidents has come down significantly. The city has seen 40% drop in the number of road accidents reported in first six months of 2020 as compared to the corresponding period last year. Fatalities too declined by 32% during the same period.
As per city traffic police data, 342 accidents were reported from January 1 to June 30 this year — which is much less compared to 572 in the corresponding period last year. In the same period this year, city witnessed 72 fatal accidents, while the number was 121 last year.
The data also revealed that in the same period, 86 men and seven women had died in accidents while 334 were injured, whereas 131 (111 men and 20 women) had died in road accidents and 593 injured last year.
Senior police officials attributed this drop to complete lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic. “The lockdown and heavy police bandobust were the prime reasons for the decline,” said a senior traffic police inspector.
According to traffic police’s analysis, city’s internal streets remain accident-prone than the busy roads like national and state highways criss-crossing the city. Of the 342 accidents, inner roads accounted for 63% (209), while Ring Road recorded 39.
In the corresponding period of 2019, 339 accidents took place on internal lanes, while inner Ring Road witnessed 45 accidents. This year, however, the inner Ring Road witnessed five more cases of fatal accidents. In 2019, inner Ring Roads had recorded 11 fatal accidents as against 16 up to June, 2020.
In complete contrast, cases of traffic violation witnessed an upward trend amid all the restrictions. From January to June this year, the city traffic police booked more than 2.50 lakh motorists for rule violations, which roughly translates to an increase of 14% as compared to the corresponding period last year when the number was 2.15 lakh.
The highest number of traffic violators were booked by Sitabuldi zone (44,353 motorists) followed by Cotton Market zone (38,325) and MIDC zone (26,658).
The traffic police recovered over Rs3.97 crore fine from 2,50,696 violators in the first six months this year as against Rs3.99 crore fine collected from 2,15,427 violators during the same period of 2019.
Source: Times of India
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