New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) Road accident and deaths due to them in the national capital have shown a dip of about 20 percent and over 19,000 motorists were prosecuted for drunken driving between January-October, a traffic police official said Thursday.
Strict prosecutions and jail terms have made roads in Delhi safer and accidents have gone down by almost 20 percent this year, said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic), at a two-day meet on ‘Road Safety in Urban and Rural Roads’ here.
“Deaths due to accidents are likely to decline by 23 percent to about 1,700 in 2012 as compared to 2,007 that took place in 2011,” he said.
“We are the only city in India where accidents have declined for the third year in a row,” he added.
“This year, 19,914 people have already been prosecuted till Oct 29 for drunken driving. The prosecutions in the first 10 months this year are the highest ever recorded in a single year in the past decade,” Garg said.
“The prosecutions are at an all-time high, and are likely to exceed 25,000 by year-end,” he added.
Organised by of the India chapter of the Geneva-based International Road Federation (IRF), a global group for promoting and advocating safe road developments, the conference is being attended by over 1,000 experts from 30 countries.
Garg said over 5,633 traffic rules’ violators were imprisoned and 939 driving licences cancelled in the past 10 months.
IRF Chairman, K.K. Kapila, citing a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report said that India accounts for more than 10 percent of the global road accident deaths of 1.3 million or 13 lakh and the conference will discuss ways and means to reduce this number.
Sanjeev Kumar Lohia, joint secretary, ministry of urban development, said a “National Road Safety Board” would soon be set up to reduce traffic congestion and fatal accidents in urban areas.
“This will help in reviewing the urban road plans and set standards for road engineering, audit and road safety,” he said.
“India reports the highest number of deaths due to road crashes in the world, while the numbers are declining worldwide,” he added.
