Rule violations, deaths in accidents up in Delhi in 2018

After a decline in road fatalities for two consecutive years, the death count increased in 2018 with around 20 more people dying in fatal crashes compared to 2017.

Data released by Delhi Traffic Police on Wednesday showed that in 2018, 1,562 fatal road accidents were reported in the city. This, though marginally lower than the 1,565 crashes reported in 2017, resulted in 1.26% more deaths.

In 2017, 1,584 people died in fatal crashes while in 2018, 1,604 people lost their lives. In 2016, 1,591 fatalities were reported in 1,548 accidents, the report shows.

“There has been a marginal increase in the number of road accident fatalities in Delhi last year compared to the previous two years. Our focus this year will be to create more awareness among commuters,” Taj Hassan, special commissioner of police (traffic), said.

Increase in life-threatening offences

Possible reasons behind the rise in road accident deaths can be found in offences that topped the charts last year.

The report showed that life-threatening offences such as riding without helmets, dangerous driving and driving without seat belts attracted the maximum number of fines.

In 2018, 1,193,558 people were fined for riding without helmets. A close second was improper parking, for which 1,163,438 challans were issued. Driving without wearing seat belts resulted in 625,468 prosecutions.

Closely following suit were offences such as riding pillion without helmets (562,894), dangerous driving (234,639) and signal jumping (211,955), which contribute to the most number of road fatalities, traffic officials said.

Traffic experts said controlling the spike in these life-threatening offences can check road fatalities.

Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning in School of Planning and Architecture, said the use of helmets and seat belts can save lives.

“The severity of accidents can be majorly reduced and lives can be saved if the basics are done right. Creating awareness and increasing presence will go a great way in bringing down fatalities,” Ram said.

Increase in challan collection

Though safety on roads remained a concern last year, the Delhi Traffic Police managed to add over R100 crore to its kitty as fines.

Compared to 2017, when R98.56 crore was collected as fine against 6,287,486 offences, this year R105.99 crore was collected as challans for 6,479,854 offences.

Hassan said apart from the effective implementation of traffic rules, the focus has been on making fine payment easier and convenient for violators. In fact, offenders are told to make payment timely, he said.

“We will also come up with a new version of e-challaning by May. This will help us build a database of repeat offenders and will keep the process of prosecution transparent and hassle-free,” Hassan said.