CITY: Road crashes go up in Hyderabad

Cyberabad is thought to be a death trap for motorists, considering the number of accident hotspots here, but over the past years, the trend seems to be turning around.

Statistics show the death rate for road accidents in Cyberabad is decreasing, but increasing in Hyderabad. The number of accidents, though, has been going down in both regions.

However, the death rate, that is, the proportion of road accidents where there have been deaths, is still high in Cyberabad by a big margin. Statistics show that over the last three years, the proportion of road accidents where there have been deaths is coming down.

While in 2011, 33 per cent of the road accidents were fatal for those involved, the proportion reduced to 30 per cent in 2012. Statistics available till March this year, are also quite encou-raging for Cyberabad police.

On the other side, in Hyderabad, the death rate has seen a marginal increase over the last few years. Statistics suggest that the number of fatal accidents in the city was nearly 16 per cent in 2011.

However, it rose to 18 per cent the next year and currently stands at 20 per cent, till March this year. The figures could well rise by the end of the year.

The gap in the number of road accidents is still quite high but can be attributed to the vast expanse of Cyberabad. Cyberabad traffic cops say that their drive against drunken driving has controlled accidents to some extent. In 2011, Cyberabad police booked 6,864 cases of drunken driving while it jumped to 17,729 in 2012.

“We have drives against drunken driving every day, so I think that has helped to a certain extent in controlling accidents,” according to M. Siva Prasad, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Cyberabad.