Fatal accidents down in city,non-fatal up

As per the data gathered by the Chandigarh Police,more men have died in accidents as compared to women. While 51 men died in road accidents,six women were killed this year. Similarly,137 men suffered injuries compared to 42 women this year.

Madhya Marg,Dakshan Marg and Vikas Marg have been identified as the most accident-prone stretches. From 2010 till May 31 this year,408 accidents occurred at the three stretches with the maximum being on Madhya Marg (167),followed by Dakshan Marg (147) and Vikas Marg (94).

Maximum accidents,it has been observed by the Chandigarh Police,occur between 9 pm and midnight. As many as 316 accidents happened during these hours from January 2010 to May 31 this year. Evening hours,from 6 pm to 9 pm,have seen 305 accidents in the last three years.

However,early morning hours (from 3 am to 6 am) saw less number of accidents. Only 38 accidents were reported in the past three years.

“The decrease in the number of fatal accidents has been made possible due to better enforcement of traffic law and order. We have ensured proper allotment of barricades at appropriate places to curb offences related to overspeeding of vehicles,” said SSP (Security & Traffic) Maneesh Chaudhry. “We have also ensured proper and efficient CCTV footage to catch traffic offenders. As a result,we are receiving about 150-160 challans a day compared to 80 challans a day a year ago.”

Chandigarh Traffic police has penalised at least 16,000 more traffic offenders this year (till June 30) compared to 2012 (till June 30). While cases of drunken driving have decreased by 154 from 2,511 last year to 2,357 this year,cases of jumping red light,dangerous driving and driving without possessing relevant documents (driving licence and registration certificate) increased significantly. While the number of cases of dangerous driving increased by 300 to 792 this year from 492 last year,cases involving jumping the red light rose by 7,955 from 10,567 last year to 18,522 this year and the cases related to driving without documents went up by 8,840 from 12,167 to 21,007.