Both the states have retained the dubious distinction of having the largest number of road accident cases in the country, accounting together for one-fourth of the total 4.18 lakh such incidents in 2007.

The two states account for 26.5 per cent of a total of 4,18,657 road accidents in 2007 while both had accounted for 26.4 per cent road accidents in 2006, according to the latest statistics released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

"Both the states topped the list in 2006 also. The statistics show that 14 were killed every hour in this country," an NCRB official said.

The 'Accidental and Suicide Deaths in India -- 2007' report prepared by the NCRB reveal that 1,14,590 people lost their lives all over India in road accidents in 2007, compared to 1,05,725 in 2006. The victims included 17,192 women.

Andhra Pradesh leads the list of victims with 13,762 deaths followed by Maharashtra (12,616), Uttar Pradesh (12,555) and Tamil Nadu (12,036).

Out of the over 4.18-lakh road accidents across the country, Tamil Nadu reported a whopping 59,117 (14.1 per cent) accidents while Maharashtra had 48,887 (12.4 per cent).

As in 2006, Karnataka (46,334), Andhra Pradesh (43,594) and Kerala (39,861) were in the top-five list of main contributors for road accident cases last year too.

However, the trend in Kerala was different from other states where road accidents showed a decrease of 1,867 last year as compared to the previous year.

The residents alleged that security personnel were not allowing them to come out of their houses as "curfew" has been imposed.

"Police vehicles fitted with public address system did rounds of the city around 5 AM, asking people not to venture out as curfew has been imposed," they said.

However, police officials denied imposition of curfew but said security forces have been given strict orders not to allow gathering of four or more people at any place as section 144, which prohibits public gathering was in force.

The officials said preventive measures were taken to maintain law and order and to prevent loss of any life or property in the state.

There has been no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the Valley so far, the sources said, adding the situation was well under control.