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2008 marked a five-year low in road accidents, besides a reduction of nearly 60 non-fatal accidents as compared to 2007 (see table). Not only this, there is a dip in number of injured in 2008 — only 442 people were hurt in road accidents as compared to 531 in 2007.
The number of vehicles, meanwhile, has increased by two lakh since 2004. Around 40,000 new vehicles were registered in 2008 bringing the figure to 7.25 lakh vehicles in the city.
“Gone are the days when people used to drive fast as the roads were virtually empty. Now, the presence of countless vehicles out on the roads has automatically brought down driving speed and thus the number of accidents,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) J S Cheema.
“Increase in traffic has forced the people to drive slow which has resulted in a decrease in the number of fatal accidents. There were 140 fatal accidents in 2008, five less compared to 2007 and four less compared to 2006,” said Superintendent of Police (Traffic) H S Doon.
Officials said the number of accidents, both fatal and non-fatal, is expected to come down further in the years to come due to heavy rush on the roads. But that does not mean that the traffic police have left nature to take its course. Doon added: “The traffic police have been instructed to guide violators on the norms instead of issuing challans.”
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