Road accidents rise in Chennai as more urbanites opt for private vehicles 

CHENNAI: Chennai roads are getting noisier, congested and dangerous rapidly, a new study has found. The share of private vehicles on roads are growing while usage of public transport systems have witnessed a dip, despite the introduction of Metro services and more number of AC buses. 

As per the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area, almost half the victims of road accident deaths in Asia (49 per cent) are pedestrians, cyclists or bikers. In Chennai, the number stands at 37 per cent.

From 2016-17 till date, there has been an 11 per cent increase in fatal accidents in the city. This has been attributed to the alarming increase in the number of vehicles on road -- from 30.25 lakh in 2008-09, the numbers have gone up to 55.69 lakh vehicles in 2017-18.

Registration of two-wheelers has gone up by a whopping 79 per cent, four-wheelers by 16 per cent and auto-rickshaws by 2 per cent.

In the last ten years, the usage of passenger transport has dipped by 3 per cent and non-motorised transport by 5 per cent while private vehicles have increased by 5.6 per cent. As of 2018, only 23 per cent of Chennai people use public transport, and just 28 per cent use non-motorised transport.

The biggest issue faced by pedestrians is the lack of footpaths. About 21.3 per cent of city roads lack footpaths.