Kolkata: Fatal accidents dip this festive season – Times of India

Kolkata News

KOLKATA: The number of fatal accidents, which usually witness an upsurge during the festival season between September and November, dropped by 17% this year. The dip has been sharper than it was during the Covid years.
The drop has been most significant this month, when the number of fatal accidents dipped by 33% till November 23 as compared to the previous year. The total number of deaths since September is around 35. While 41 fatal accidents were reported between September and November 23 last year, the number hovered around 36 in Covid-hit 2020. Police sources attributed the success to stringent prosecutions and steeper fines introduced in February this year.
While the festival season was often wrongly interpreted as the licence to break traffic rules that invited accidents, things began to change from 2018. “This year, we carried special two-wheeler drives on each Durga Puja day. This was the year when the Kolkata Police area was free of even a single fatal accident,” explained an officer at Lalbazar.
Similarly, the winter season leads to spurt in drinkdriving and fog, both contributing to accidents. “This year, anti-drink and anti-speeding drives are being carried out all day round. The new fines are nothing less than Rs 1,000. Drink-driving is leading to spot arrests in certain cases. Hence, the message has been sent out to motorists and bikers that they must be careful while travelling,” stated the officer.
DC (Traffic) Sunil Yadavsaid that the decreasing numbers are actually a reflection of the year-long crackdown by traffic police. “The total number of fatalities this year is still slightly lesser than last year despite this year witnessing no lockdowns,” he added.
The police brass, in their monthly meetings, had in July asked all the traffic guards to come up with suggestions on how to tackle fatal accidents after June and July witnessed around 32 fatal accidents.
Several traffic guards, including Thakurpukur, gave multiple suggestions like road widening, creating median dividers and securing school zones. Work on some of these suggestions has already begun in earnest or has been completed. Lalbazar hadalso asked local police stations to patrol points that are accident-prone. “There is no one-point solution. We are thus taking multiple shortand long-term decisions based on local inputs. The statistics prove that those decisions are proving to be effective,” said an officer from the traffic department.
Kolkata Police had earlier launched its Good Samaritan programme across the city that aimed at assuring the passers-by who help accident victims and inform cops about accidents that they will not be harassed by police. While these rights of Good Samaritans have long been in circulation based on court ruling and directives from both the Centre and the state, the fresh attempt is to “educate” the masses, claimed sources.

Source: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMieWh0dHBzOi8vdGltZXNvZmluZGlhLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tL2NpdHkva29sa2F0YS9rb2xrYXRhLWZhdGFsLWFjY2lkZW50cy1kaXAtdGhpcy1mZXN0aXZlLXNlYXNvbi9hcnRpY2xlc2hvdy85NTc1NDcxNy5jbXPSAXRodHRwczovL20udGltZXNvZmluZGlhLmNvbS9jaXR5L2tvbGthdGEva29sa2F0YS1mYXRhbC1hY2NpZGVudHMtZGlwLXRoaXMtZmVzdGl2ZS1zZWFzb24vYW1wX2FydGljbGVzaG93Lzk1NzU0NzE3LmNtcw?oc=5