Kolkata Traffic Police: 19% rise in fatal accidents this year

KOLKATA: Compared to the pandemic-hit 2020, which witnessed long periods of shutdown, the number of accidents has increased considerably this year, according to a mid-year accident analysis data prepared by Kolkata Traffic Police. However, the number this year is much lower compared to 2019.
This year, the number of fatal accidents has already touched 134 so far. As many as 124 fatal accidents have been reported in the city so far this year. That is almost an average of 17 deaths per month. This is an overall 19% rise in fatal accidents as compared to last year.


Till August last year, 112 people had died on Kolkata roads in 110 accidents, at an average of 14 deaths per month. In the final count, as many as 193 people had died in road accidents in 2020. In 2019, the city had witnessed 179 deaths by the end of August at an average of 22 deaths per month. The total accidental deaths in the entire year stood at 267.
According to a comparative analysis of cases in August, there have been 13 major accidents in which 14 people died in the first three weeks of this month. In last August, too, the same number of accidents led to identical deaths. This is lesser than 2019 deaths, when 16 died in as many accidents.
A few findings in this year’s performance will keep the Lalbazar brass a bit worried. Eighteen lives have been lost since the withdrawal of transport regulations on July 1. That is a considerable number since all accidents took place within just seven weeks. Importantly, fatal squad probes have blamed drivers of trucks and buses in only 30% of fatal accidents reported in the city.
Several private car owners and two-wheeler riders, too, have ended up as the primary accused in accident cases since July. There have been nine hit-and-run incidents during this phase, seven of which have ended in fatalities. Among the maximum number of victims are pedestrians, passengers getting off buses, cyclists and two-wheeler riders.
Police blame the sudden jump in two-wheelers and four-wheelers on city roads as one key reason. “Most of them have bought these vehicles with two objectives — maintain social distance and reach office despite the unavailability of public transport. However, not many are very conversant with traffic rules, nor are they expert drivers. This is leading to accidents,” said an officer.
The “negligent behaviour” of pedestrians and little idea about drivers’ blind spots — especially of bigger commercial vehicles — have also been blamed for accidents. Among other causes are unsafe driving practices and speeding, said sources in the fatal squad that investigates such cases.
“We will also focus on pocket-to-pocket analysis and carry out traffic re-engineering rather than concentrating on dry overall statistics. Traffic volume and its flow this year have been erratic due to the pandemic and they do not provide the scope for usual comparisons. While there was definitely a drop in public transport — besides the full lockdown months — two-wheelers (both motorized and non-motorized) comprised the bulk of the traffic,” stated an officer.
DC (Traffic) Arijit Sinha stated all possible steps were being taken to tackle accidents. “We are studying accident-prone and slow traffic-prone areas separately and responding to them by involving even the civic agencies,” he said.