On an average, four people lost their lives daily in road accidents in the national capital in the first 135 days of this year while 21 people were injured on an average every day, Delhi Police data has revealed.
The data, which IANS has accessed, pointed out that 579 lives were lost in 2,973 accidents that took place between January 1 and May 15.
"The number of fatal accidents can be stopped only when we can curb the number of accidents. This depends on the people, who should properly follow the traffic norms," Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Muktesh Chander told IANS.
Victims too are equally responsible for the accidental deaths, he said.
According to Chander, pedestrians don't use subways while crossing roads and this results in accidents.
"Pedestrians crossing the road also hampers the smooth flow of traffic," Chander pointed out.
He also said the traffic police have prosecuted over 60,000 drivers till May 15 to enforce discipline in Delhi.
On the recommendations of the traffic police, Chander said, the Delhi's transport department had cancelled the driving licences of around 90 people till April 2 after finding them involved in dangerous driving on more than two occasions.
"We will continue to enforce discipline in Delhi in the interest of road safety and mobility in times to come," Chander said.
As per the police data, violation of rules is rampant in Delhi - with thousands of cases of jumping signals, drunken driving and over-speeding being reported across different parts of the city, which result in accidents and fatalities.
The data shows that a total of 8,623 road accidents occurred in 2014, which was quite high compared to 7,566 accidents in 2013. There were 6,937 accidents in 2012 against 7,280 in 2011.
There were 1,629 fatal accidents in 2014, 1,778 in 2013, 1,822 in 2012 and 2,047 in 2011.
A police officer said most accidents occur near flyovers, signal-free crossings and on high-speed corridors.
"Of the total accident prone hotspots identified near flyovers, about 27 percent are on the Ring Road, 17 percent on the GT Karnal Road, 13 on Outer Ring Road and six percent on Mathura Road," the officer told IANS, speaking on the condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The officer said that many accidents also occur near bus stops and Metro stations.
The data shows that some of the notorious stretches are near Kashmiri Gate, Anand Vihar ISBT, Pashchim Vihar Metro Station, Uttam Nagar Metro Station and Jahangirpuri bus stand.
"Ten bus stops are listed as accident spots and account for eight percent of the total accidents. These include the Kashmere Gate and Wazirpur bus stops.
"Among the Metro stations, those at Mansarovar Park, Uttam Nagar and Madipur are the major accident spots. This is a serious matter in view of the fact that lack of safety in accessing public transport can compromise the use of public transport," a report accompanying the data said.
The report further pointed out that about 24 percent of the total accidents happen at crossings and junctions, on roads without properly designed junctions, or where there were no provisions for crossings.
"Delhi's traffic department and transport authorities, through their joint efforts, try to bring down the number of road accidents that claim innocent lives," the officer said.
India has the highest road-accident fatalities in the world, with over 135,000 people killed annually, one every four minutes.
(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
