Patiala witnesses 520 road accidents, over 300 deaths in 2019

PATIALA: As many as 520 road accidents have been reported iIn Patiala district in 2019, according to the reports submitted by the Road Safety Engineer to the district administration and the state government.
Only this year, over 300 deaths have been reported in road accidents, whereas the death toll due to accidents in last four years in Patiala has touched 1,200 deaths since 2016.
According to the road safety officials, a total of 252 deaths were reported till September this year, while 33 deaths took place in November.
Besides this, the road safety department has detected more than 55 black spots in the district where most of the accidents have taken place. In Patiala city alone, there are 13 black spots identified so far and listed under accident-prone areas. A detailed report over the black spots has been submitted with some preventive measures and suggestions that can counter the rise in accidents.
Some of the black spots on roads have been declared as highly sensitive including the Sirhind road near Hardaspur village and Faggan Majra village, traffic lights at Rajpura – Patiala, traffic lights at Bus stand in Patiala city, Khanda Chowk, Thikriwala Chowk, Truck Union, and Kasiana point. A Tripuri turn in Patiala has witnessed number deaths in the road accidents.
The major reasons behind the accidents have been declared as over speeding, drunk driving, rash driving, technical faults, unauthorized routes or road turns and stray cattle.
The report over the number of accidents along with the categorisation of the types of accidents including due to stray cattle have been submitted to the deputy commissioner Patiala by the road safety engineer appointed by the state government especially for this purpose.
Shivinder Kaur, road safety engineer Patiala, said, “More than 300 deaths in road accidents have taken place this year. Some of the sensitive black spots have been identified and some precautionary measures are being taken to counter the road accidents at these spots. The installation of the signboards including the speed boards near these black spots are need of the hour and suggestions to the authorities regarding this are already submitted. The deaths due to stray cattle are registered under CrPC and are separately dealt. The road accident cases are registered under sections of Indian Penal Code including negligence causing death, rash driving and other sections.”