Unsafe roads of Allahabad: 1,291 fatalities in accidents till October 31

ALLAHABAD: As many as 1,291 people have died in 2,458 road accidents between January 1 and October 31 this year in four districts of Allahabad division.

There has been no decline in cases of road accidents though cops have identified 67 accident-prone areas on state/national highways connecting four districts of the range – Allahabad, Kaushambi, Fatehpur and Pratapgarh.

According to official data of Allahabad range police, 489 people in Allahabad, 237 in Pratapgarh, 389 in Fatehpur and 176 in Kaushambi have lost their lives between January 1 and October 31.

A total of 2,458 cases of road accidents were reported in the range including 1,143 in Allahabad, 415 in Pratapgarh, 603 in Fatehpur and 297 in Kaushambi in which 1,536 people were injured. These included 758 in Allahabad, 282 in Pratapgarh, 333 in Fatehpur and 163 in Kaushambi.

Ironically, Allahabad has minimum 13 black spots on national/state highways and city roads but has recorded maximum deaths in last 10 months.

DIG (Allahabad range) KP Singh said, “After identifying 67 black spots on national highways, state highways and major district streets across Allahabad range, we have launched road safety exercise to minimise cases of road mishap.”

He, however, said cops of all four districts have been instructed to chalk out a concrete road safety programme to check cases of fatal and non-fatal category road accidents.

“Stress is being laid on checking the cases of rash driving at black spots. We are trying to connect to new age drivers to create awareness on safe driving,” the DIG said.

While Pratapgarh has maximum of 20 black spots (10 each on national and state highway), Allahabad has 13 black spots (10 on NH, one on SH and two on MDS).

Similarly, Fatehpur has 18 black spots (nine on NH, three on SH and six on MDS), and Kaushambi has 16 black spots (nine on NH, five on SH and two on MDS).