Road accidents killed 18 persons every day in Telangana

Hyderabad, Jan 12: The death toll in road accidents across Telangana State rose by three per cent to 6,806 in 2019 as against 6,603 in 2018. This implies that on an average 18 persons are getting killed in mishaps, every day, in spite of several safety measures taken by the Telangana government and the police force.

Over speeding is found to be the biggest killer, according to Telangana Transport Department figures.

“Drivers of heavy vehicles, passenger vehicles and two-wheeler riders are not adhering to traffic rules and road safety measures. On a daily average, 60 road accidents, 18 deaths and 61 major injuries have occurred in Telangana. Cases are being registered every other minute”, said an official from the Department.

Challan revenue on the rise

Meanwhile, challan revenue is also on the rise.

“Traffic police issued challans that amounted to a fine in excess of Rs 121 crore in over 25 lakh violation cases. This is an average monthly collection of Rs 10 crore. Over-speeding cases were 11.3 lakh in 2019 and fetched a fine amount of Rs 92 crore. Every two minutes, at least one over speeding case was booked”, pointed out the official.

A fine amount of Rs 33 lakh by way of challans was collected every day from around 6,845 traffic violations.

“Incidentally, with a hefty hike in penalties, there was a drop in the number of accidents and rules violations in August and September. This is because drivers became more cautious since the implementation of Motor Vehicle Act Amendment Act -2019. As a result, the number of deaths per month dropped to 350 from 540 during the two months. However, following nationwide protests against the revised Act, several States, including Telangana, announced that they would not implement the Act and impose heavy penalties. As a consequence, death toll increased to 500 per month,” the official said.