Bhubaneswar: Police have decided to launch a drive against speeding, rash driving and wrong-side driving in the city.

Bhubaneswar witnessed 600 road accidents in which 185 people were killed in 2017. In 2016, 186 people were killed in 598 accidents, say official records.

When it comes to the city roads, excluding the national highways passing through the city, the number of accidents was 2016 in 363 with 92 casualties. The number of accidents climbed to 407 in 2017 resulting in 103 deaths. The number of accidents of the national highways decreased from 235 to 193 in 2017. Accident deaths on the highways also reduced to 82 from 94.

The police attributed the increase in death toll on the city roads because of non-compliance to traffic rule and people indulging in rash driving, wrong-side driving, driving without helmets and overspeeding. "Though the maximum speed limit is 50kmph on the city roads, many drivers have the tendency to drive beyond the speed limit. Wearing helmets can significantly reduce the death toll on city roads," said a police official.

Despite frequent crackdowns on driving without helmets, this continues to be the major contributor to traffic violations with more than 44,000 violators being penalized for the offence in 2017. More than 20,000 were penalised last year for wrong-side driving.

"We acquired an interceptor vehicle equipped with breathalyzer and speed camera in July last year to crack down on ovespeeding and drunk drivers. Though the interceptor is being deployed on the national highways, we will also deploy it on the city roads. The police stations concerned have also been asked to conduct road blocks to detect drink driving," said the police official.