NEW DELHI: The lockdown in India may have kept much of the traffic off the streets, but road accidents continued to take place. In fact, between March 24 and May 4, a total of 137 people died in such accidents across the country, a report compiled by the SaveLife Foundation , a non-profit that works on road safety, has found.
Of these, 42 were from states like UP, Bihar and Rajasthan who were trying to return to their native towns and villages amid shut down of public transport. Most of them died after they were run over by speeding cars and bikes, the report said.
At least 17 “essential workers” – those engaged in distribution of essential services such as healthcare and delivery of goods and vegetables – also lost their lives in road accidents. Common causes of accidents were collision with a speeding truck, getting run over by a speeding vehicle, tyre blowout as well as two-wheelers toppling.
Among general pedestrians, causes of accidents included bus catching fire, bus falling from a height and collision with trucks.
The report also found that India recorded a total of 596 road crashes during the first two phases of the lockdown. At 42, Punjab recorded the highest number of deaths followed by Kerala (26), Delhi (18), Karnataka (12),
Source: TOI
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