CHANDIGARH: The number of road fatalities per million population of Punjab was 148, against the national average of 119, as 12 people lose their lives daily in road accidents in the state and about 60-67 per cent of the total road fatalities occurred on National and State Highway, said ''Report on Punjab Road Accidents and Traffic-2017' which was released here today.
Director General of Police, Punjab, Suresh Arora released this book. Giving details from this book Dr Sharad Chauhan Additional DGP (Traffic) said last year on an average of 12 people lost their lives daily in road accidents in Punjab. "Sharpest decline of 12.1 per cent road fatalities observed in the state last year against the rising trend of previous years. This is the sharpest yearly decline achieved by the state in this decade", he added.
Chauhan revealed that 2.25 per cent of the total country's population of lives in Punjab but its share in the total road accident deaths varied from 3.3 to 3.5 per cent of road accident deaths of India in the last five years. About 60-67 per cent of the total road fatalities occurred on National and State Highways, both comprises of 5.4 per cent of the total road length in the state.
City wise, five cities of Punjab--Ludhiana, Patiala, Amritsar, Bathinda, Mohali, and Jalandhar--alone contributed 15 per cent deaths to the total road fatalities in the state, he added. He said the number of fatalities per million population of Punjab was 148, against the national average of 119.
Three districts of Rupnagar, S.A.S Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib ranked number one, two and three respectively where the rate of fatal road accidental deaths was almost double than the state's average. Last year out of 22, 18 districts reported in a decrease in road fatalities except for Rupnagar and S.A.S. Nagar, Fazilka and Tarantaran.
A continuous decline in the road fatalities was observed in all 12 months as compared with the previous year 2016, he added. Chauhan informed that as per the report, over speeding was the leading cause of deaths in the state.
Last year, a total 2,363 people died in road accidents due to over speeding. A total of 462 people died due to road accidents in three Police Commissionerates, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar that account for 10.4 per cent in the total share of road accident fatalities in the state. Age wise, 75 per cent of the people involved in various fatal road accidents, were from the age group of 18 to 45.
Road accident is one of the leading causes of young people deaths in Punjab, he added. As per the data available, motor vehicles are growing at 9-10 per cent rate in Punjab and last year on an average daily, 300 new cars and 1700 two-wheelers were registered in the state.
The total cumulative registered vehicle in Punjab till March 2017 were 98,59,742. At the same time in 2017, neighbouring Haryana recorded an increase of 3.5 per cent in road fatalities and Rajasthan with almost negligible change of -0.2 per cent. As per the socio-economic cost analysis, Chauhan said that Punjab saved Rs. 620 crores due to a reduction in road accidents compared with the previous year based on the socio-economic cost calculations devised by the planning commission.
He further informed that this book would be circulated to all Deputy Commissioners, Police Commissioners and SSPs to analyze road safety and accident scenario in their respective areas of jurisdiction and take remedial steps to reduce accidents and deaths on road. In addition to this, the copy of the e-book would also be uploaded on the website of the Punjab Police to make it available for the public, students, researchers.