New Delhi: The wide and smooth roads of Delhi are a curse for motorists, or so it seems from the data released by the transport ministry.
The Capital has recorded a shockingly high number of fatalities in 2011, even as the actual number of accidents is similar to other cities.
Delhi reported 2,065 deaths in total 7,281 accidents, while Mumbai recorded 25,471 accidents and only 563 fatalities.
The city saw 1,693 road accidents in which 1,725 people died in 2013 while in 2012, there were 1,801 deaths in 1,757 accidents.
The number of deaths due to road accidents in 2011 was 2110. In 2006, the number of deaths in 2135 road accidents was 2,178.
Traffic police officials have for long felt the need to curb the trend of speeding among motorists. They were successful in bringing a decline in road accidents during day hours over the last year, but failed to incorporate the similar sense of discipline among motorists during night.
Data shows more people were killed in road mishaps during daytime, but the trend has reversed, said a police officer.
Delhi Police's two ambitious projects — installation of speed cameras and hitech interceptors to record the speed of vehicles at night, which were scheduled to be in place in 2011 — are still missing from the streets.
Both projects had been disapproved by the purchase committee of Delhi Police last year, and sources said that their status might remain the same this time as the ministry of home affairs was not keen to sanction money for such expensive equipment.
This emerging trend, said KK Kapila, chair man of Inter national Road Federation, cannot be checked unless technology is adopted.
