Bhubaneswar: Accident deaths on city roads have witnessed a whopping 47 per cent rise in the last five years. Police records state that 70 people had died in road accidents in Bhub-aneswar in 2013, which increased to 103 in 2017.
The police records also reveal that the number of deaths in road accidents on both the national highways (NH-16 and NH-203) passing through the city have decreased during this period from 96 in 2013 to 82 in 2017.
Altogether, the city witnessed 600 road accidents (193 on national highways and 407 on other roads) in 2017. During them same period, the number of vehicles in the city has increased from 7 lakh to 11 lakh, significantly increasing traffic density.
"Casualties have decreased on national highways during this period (2013-2017) mainly because a number of flyovers have come up on the highways. However, the death toll on city roads has increased due to various reasons - mainly rash driving, speeding and drink driving," said a senior police officer.
Though the maximum speed limit on city roads is 50 kilometres per hour, drivers - mainly youths at the wheel - often rev up their vehicles to speed even beyond 80 kilometres per hour. Drink driving is also another major contributor to accidents.
Regional transport officer, Bhubaneswar-II, S.K. Behera said that mandatory use of helmets by two-wheeler riders alone could reduce accident deaths by 20 per cent to 30 per cent.
"The risk of death is nearly two times more among bike riders not wearing a helmet compared with those who use a helmet. There are instances in which commuters have suffered serious head injuries for riding motorcycles without helmet even at low speeds (10 t0 20 kilometres per hour),"said Behera.
Experts blamed poor enforcement of traffic norms behind the rise in accident deaths on city roads.
"Wrong-side driving, violation of for traffic signals at intersections and indiscriminate roadside parking are some of the main reasons behind road accidents on city roads. Though we have been asking the police to take stringent actions against violators, the role of cops seems to be restricted only within collection of fine," said former member of the National Road Safety Council Syed Maqbool Ali.
Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said that they planned to intensify drive against drink driving and speeding.
"We will ask concerned police stations to conduct regular drives against drink driving. We are also taking the help of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed at traffic intersections to detect cases of traffic violation," said Sahoo.
