Road deaths: Numbers dip in Ambala under 'mission zero'

AMBALA: The district has seen a slight dip in road mishaps under Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ) launched last year in May by CM Manohar Lal Khattar to curb road accidents. This was done after identifying black and critical spots here.

According to the official data, between July 2016 and June 2017, Ambala witnessed 276 fatalities, which came down to 226 between July 2017 and June 2018 - thereby witnessing a drop of 50 deaths in road mishaps.

It was learned that the district's road safety team identified four black spots and three critical spots across Ambala, which helped in reducing fatalities. These spots included crossing on NH 1 opposite Jaggi filling station, Sultanpur turn, Shastri Colony turn, Zila Sainik board turn, Saha Chowk, Aggarsain Chowk Naraingarh, and Maharana Pratap Chowk Barara.

"The number of fatalities in road accidents across Ambala has decreased. Last year between July 2016 and June 2017, 276 death cases were recorded in Ambala. After the launch of HVZ, in May 2017, the teams identified black and critical spots and worked on them. Between July 2017 and June 2018, the number of such cases decreased by 50 to 226," said road safety associate, HVZ, Ambala, Rashit Bajaj.

"As of now, we are working on roads between Mullana and Jagadhri, and Ambala and Hisar. Our teams are working on these roads to make them safe. With the help of administration, we will be installing steel railings, reflectors and caution signs and deploying traffic cops to make the areas safe. For critical areas, traffic signals have been placed. Our teams are working to achieve the target of zero fatalities," said Rashit added.

"Since May last year, Ambala Police has been organising Rahgiri functions twice a month to spread the awareness about the traffic rules and educate public. We are also slapping violators with challans," said superintendent of police, Ambala, Abhishek Jorwal.

Meanwhile, it was learned that more than 25 persons died in the last one month in road accidents. A TOI team in a survey found that the residents here take traffic rules lightly. The survey also found that most of the cases that resulted into deaths were of people riding two-wheelers. According to the official data of 2017, Haryana witnessed 10,625 road accidents which caused 4,828 deaths. Of these, 227 were in Ambala.