This story is from June 29, 2020

Accident deaths drop by 64.4 % during lockdown in Odisha

Despite restrictions in movement of vehicles during the lockdown and shutdown between March (last week) and May, at least 384 persons were killed in road accidents in the state during the period. However, the total fatality rate dropped by 64.4 % during the lockdown period compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
Accident deaths drop by 64.4 % during lockdown in Odisha
Image used for representational purposes
BHUBANESWAR: Despite restrictions in movement of vehicles during the lockdown and shutdown between March (last week) and May, at least 384 persons were killed in road accidents in the state during the period. However, the total fatality rate dropped by 64.4 % during the lockdown period compared to the corresponding period in 2019.
The state transport department has supplied the data to the Supreme Court committee on road safety, which monitors compliance of road safety rules in the country.
The committee had asked all states to furnish accident data during the lockdown (between March 24 and May 31).
The state government said the total number of road accidents dropped to 836 during the lockdown as against 2107 number of accidents during the corresponding period in 2019. “We also found that the total number of fatalities decreased to 384 between March 24 and May 31 this year compared to 1087 deaths during the corresponding period last year. The total number of persons, who were injured, also dropped to 722 during the lockdown as against 2175 injured persons during the same period last year,” state transport commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said.
Police sources said almost all the road accidents that were reported during the lockdown occurred on the national highways, involving vehicles carrying essential and non-essential commodities. There was no restriction on movement of vehicles transporting essential and non-essential commodities, though the movement of buses, cars, two-wheelers and other private and commercial vehicles was stopped during the lockdown and special shutdown.
“We found that most of the vehicles were moving in breakneck speed as the roads were empty and traffic thin. Most victims (deceased) were either drivers or staffs of the ill-fated vehicles,” a police officer said.
Sources said Uttarakhand and Kerala recorded the maximum (nearly 90 percent) declines each in the road fatalities. Rajasthan saw 68.4 % decrease in accident deaths, Gujarat 64.1% less fatalities, Maharashtra 61 % less deaths and Bihar nearly 58 % less fatalities during the lockdown compared to the same period in 2019.
Odisha also saw 14.8 % drop in road accident deaths in the first quarter of 2020 in comparison to the corresponding period in 2019. While 1580 accident deaths were reported in January, February and March in 2019, the number of fatalities came down to 1346 in the first three months this year.
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About the Author
Debabrata Mohapatra

Debabrata Mohapatra is a senior correspondent at The Times of India, Bhubaneswar. He holds a PG diploma in Journalism from Chennai and covers crime and civic issues. Debabrata spends his leisure reading and watching cricket on TV.

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