Increase in road accidents in Delhi but drop in fatal accidents

New Delhi, Feb 23 (UNI) There has been an increase in the number of road accidents in Delhi last year compared to that in the year 2004 but the number of fatal accidents has witnessed a drop during the period, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

The number of road accidents reported in 2005 was 9,351 compared to 9,087 in 2004 which shows an increase in the number of accidents, Minister of State for Home Affairs S Raghupathy said in reply to a question.

However, the number of fatal road accidents during the same period decreased from 1846 in 2004 to 1,771 in 2005, Mr Raghupathy said.

While 554 people were killed by light vehicles last year, 636 people died in accidents by heavy vehicles.

Action taken in case of such accidents include prosecution of drivers or persons responsible for accidents, seizure or cancellation of driving licenses of drivers and suspension or cancellation of permits of vehicles involved, the minister said.

He said the Delhi police had undertaken several steps to check road accidents in Delhi including distribution of road safety literature among various category of road users, training of drivers of buses and commercial vehicles, cancellation of permits of commercial vehicles involved in accidents and segregation of fast moving traffic from slow moving traffic.

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