Punjab loses almost Rs 50 crore every day due to the road accidents. The fact came to light in a report prepared by the government.
According to the Punjab Road Accidents and Traffic Report-2021 released yesterday, as many as 4,589 lives were lost and 2,032 persons were seriously injured in 5,871 road accidents last year. The socio-economic cost analysis put the loss at Rs 17,851 crore in 2021. This come out to be almost Rs 49 crore per day. It is around 15 per cent more as compared to the previous year (2020), when Punjab lost Rs 15,176 crore.
Navdeep Asija, state government’s Traffic Adviser, said the socio-economic cost was worked out by calculating parameters like loss of work hours due to deaths, injuries and disabilities. It also included the cost of treatment, lost productivity and loss of potential income.
Going into the causes of accidents, the analysis said overspeeding and driving on the wrong side were the leading causes of deaths in Punjab. In 2021, a total of 3,276 persons died due to overspeeding, followed by 522 deaths due to driving on wrong side.
When it comes to the age group, young lost lives in a large number. Age-wise, 69 per cent of the people involved in various fatal road accidents were from the age group of 18 to 45. As far as the timing of the accidents is concerned, the maximum number of road accidents was recorded from 6 pm and 9 pm.
The number of fatalities per million population of Punjab was 144. In Ropar, SBS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib districts, the rate of fatal road accidental deaths is almost 1.7 times the state’s average.
Of the 22 districts, 10 reported a decrease in road fatalities. The ranking of Jalandhar district increased from 18th to 10th position and of Ludhiana from 13th to 7th position.
The analysis observed that a decline in the road fatalities was observed in October and November whilst an increase was seen in the other months as compared to the previous year.
Increase in road accidents
In 2021, an increase of 17.7% in road accident fatalities was observed in the state against the declining trend of the previous year. An estimated 2.29% of the country’s population lives in Punjab, but its share in road accident deaths varies from 2.8% to 3.5% in the past five years
375 new cars registered daily
- Last year, on an average 375 new cars and 982 two-wheelers were registered daily in Punjab
- The total cumulative registered vehicles in Punjab till December 2021 were 1.21 crore
- 72% of the total road fatalities occurred on national and state highways
