4% accident victims responsible for own deaths
motorists often blame the victims after a fatal accident, but the victims are responsible for only 4% of all such mishaps in Delhi last year, a study by the traffic police revealed.
There were a total of 1,548 fatal accidents in Delhi in 2016, leaving 1,591 persons dead. The traffic police were able to conclude the causes of accidents in 954 such cases. Drivers were found responsible for 87% of these mishaps.
Speeding turned out to be the biggest killer, causing 237 lifeclaiming accidents. ‘Dangerous driving’ ranked second, causing 152 such accidents.
In 115 other cases, police concluded that the drivers were not obeying traffic rules. Poor driving skills resulted in 37 accidents. Surprisingly, drunk driving was responsible for only two fatal accidents even as the traffic police found over 28,000 motorists driving under the influence of alcohol last year. In 289 (35%) other fatal accidents, in which the driver was found to be at fault, the police are yet to conclude the cause of the accident.
Victims, meanwhile, were found to have caused only a small fraction of the fatal accidents involving them. In such cases too, it were the drivers and riders mainly at fault. So, of all the 36 fatal accidents caused by the victims themselves, 18 were because they were driving rashly. Pedestrians abruptly crossing the road claimed only 10 lives.
Analysing the civic issues which caused deaths, the traffic police found that eight were due to poor lighting conditions and five due to potholes. Unguarded civil works and encroachments, on the other hand, caused only three accidents, traffic police found. Faulty road conditions or designs resulted in 27 other fatal accidents. Narrow roads were held responsible for 12 mishaps and the absence of a central verge another 11 accidents. Despite all the discussion about poor designing of roads, police found them responsible for only one accident that caused deaths.
THERE WERE 1,548 FATAL MISHAPS IN 2016, IN WHICH 1,591 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. SPEEDING CLAIMED 237 LIVES