1,978 people died in road accidents in Delhi last year

New Delhi, Jan 05 (UNI) Number of fatalities in road accidents in the national capital increased from 1,966 to 1,978 in the year gone by compared to 2005, even as the total accidents decreased from 11,341 to 11,202.

As many as 7,970 people were injured last year compared to 7,991 people in 2005, Delhi Police Commissioner told mediapersons in the force's annual press conference here today.

On the other hand to drill some traffic sense in the denizens, the Delhi Traffic Police issued over 41 lakh challans in 2006 compared to about 39 lakh the year before that. More than Rs 46 crore were collected by compounding fines last year compared to around Rs 45 crore in 2005.

The challaning data showed a disturbing trend - a whooping 103 per cent increase in people caught using mobile phones while driving, more than 26 per cent increase in minors caught driving and over 21 per cent increase in drivers found tipsy.

The traffic police, meanwhile, took shelter behind figures of growing number of vehicles in the city and stated that this was responsible for more accidents, traffic congestion and reduced vehicles speed resulting in journey delays and inconvenience to motorists.

The road network had increased from 8,380 km in 1971-72 to 31,183 km in 2005-06 (3.7 times) while the number of vehicles had increased from 2.14 lakh in 1971-72 to 50.36 lakh in 2006 (24 times), it was said.

The density of vehicular population per km in 1972 was 39 that had now increased to 162, which was considered very high and exceeded the road-vehicle saturation level.

UNI