Gurguram records highest no. of traffic fatalities in district

With as many as 202 traffic fatalities reported between January and May this year, the city has recorded the highest number of deaths in the district due to road accidents, followed by Sonepat, which has reported 160 cases, Jhajjar, which reported 140, Yamunanagar, which reported 124, and Rewari, which reported 106.

The data, compiled by Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ), a group of experts on road safety, commissioned by the state government in May 2017 to achieve zero fatality in road accidents, shows that there has not been any major improvement in the situation as compared to last year. In 2018, 210 casualties were reported during the same period in the city.

More than 1,600 people have died in the last three years due to flaws in road engineering and lack of enforcement of rules, according to the data, which has been accessed by the Hindustan Times. In 2016, 420 fatalities were reported in the city, which increased to 458 in 2017. It further spiked to 464 in 2018.

Of these cases, more than 35% fatalities took place on the national highway and critical roads. Nearly 45% of pedestrians and 38% of two-wheeler riders were victims of poor road engineering and lack of enforcement of rules. Most of them lost their lives due to head-on collisions or when they were hit from the back and the side, according to the data.

Nine per cent of four-wheeler drivers lost their lives.

HVZ officials have cited reasons such as the poor implementation of their recommendations by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the Public Works Department (PWD). “We have already submitted two recommendation reports to the NHAI, three to the GMDA and six to the PWD, which have been pending for two years,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, programme coordinator, HVZ.

To prevent accidents on the arterial roads, departments have been given suggestions on engineering and construction changes. They include installing signage, speed humps, zebra crossing, speed tables and traffic lights. Gurpreet Singh, senior road safety associate, HVZ, said, “Since 2017, 675km of road safety audit has been done on different types of roads. The reports have been submitted to the departments concerned. Also, 133 crash investigations have been done and four critical intersections have been audited and recommendation reports have been submitted.”

He added that in the last six months, only three District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) meeting took place. “No meeting could be held for three months due to the Lok Sabha election. The last meetings were held in January and March,” said Singh.

Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, said, “We will follow up as per standard operating procedure in conjunction with all departments, and reduce fatalities as per identified black spots.”