Hyderabad: Drunk driving still goes on
According to data of the Hyderabad traffic department, 1,019 people died in road accidents between 2016 and 2018.
Hyderabad: It’s been three years since nine-year-old Baby Ramya died in a tragic accident in Banjara Hills because of drunk driving. A speeding car driven by a drunken 20-year-old student hit the car the child was travelling in. The other passengers in the car — Ramya’s mother Radhika, an uncle and her grandfather — were injured.
The number of road accidents has been increasing year by year despite several road safety campaigns. According to data of the Hyderabad traffic department, 1,019 people died in road accidents between 2016 and 2018.
Mr Anil Kumar, additional commissioner, traffic, said, “We are carrying out extensive drives to catch hold of offenders. We are learning from past incidents and the results are visible. In 2018, we caught 30,000 and this year it’s going to increase. We can enforce law and make people aware but citizens also have to drive responsibly.”
According to a report of PRS Legislative Research, highways (both national and state) comprise approximately five per cent of the total road network, and witness almost 52 per cent of accidents. More accidents on the highways may be attributed to higher vehicle speeds and higher volume of traffic on these roads.
A report by the Hyderabad traffic police also showed that the maximum number of accidents take place between 8 and 9 pm.
In the last three years, the traffic police has imprisoned 16,779 persons out of 67,348 people booked for drunk driving.
The data shows that altogether `10.89 crore has been collected in the past three years in fines.
The majority of vehicles involved in road accidents are two-wheelers, followed by four-wheelers and three wheelers. They caused 978, 849 and 229 accidents respectively.
The Union ministry of road transport and highways in its report said that there are 17 road fatalities every hour countrywide. Many studies reveal that people are still unaware about the driving rules. Medical practitioners believe that the inefficient emergency response is a major cause of the fatalities.