Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed as many as 76,942 road accidents between 2010 and 2022 in which 12,429 people were killed, while 1,04,983 individuals were injured, the latest data released by the traffic police revealed Thursday.
The data of last 12 years shows that on an average, more than 12000 people died and 8748 were injured due to accidents of different nature across the Union Territory. The figures suggest that in every 24 hours, 34 people got killed and 291were injured across J&K on daily basis.
As per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the figures, however, shows some downward trend during the last two years (2020-2021) of COVID pandemic, when deaths due to road accidents were between 700-800. The reasons are obvious as lockdown prevailed during this period.
The data further revealed that out of total casualties, 9963 were fatal in nature while rest were non-fatal.
As per data compiled by the traffic department, in 2010, a total of 1073 persons were killed while 8655 people were injured in 6120 accidents.
In 2011, 1121 persons were killed and 9944 injured in a total 6644 accidents. In 2012, the death toll rose to 1165, while 9755 persons were injured in 6709 road accidents.
In 2013, 990 persons died, around 8681 persons were injured in 6469 accidents.
In 2014, 992 persons were injured and 8043 were injured in 5861 accidents.
In 2015, 917 people were injured and 8142 persons were injured in 5836 accidents.
In 2016, 958 were killed and 7677 were injured in 5501 accidents. In 2017, 926 were killed and the injured persons were 7419 in 5624 accidents. In 2018, 984 people were injured and 7845 injured in 5978 accidents. In 2019, a total of 996 persons were killed, 7532 were injured in 5796 accidents.
In 2020 and 2021, the two years of COVID pandemic, 728 and 774 people were killed respectively. As many as 5894 persons were injured in 4860 accidents during 2020 while 6972 were injured 5452 during 2021.
The accident graph again shows an upward trend and the number of accidents shoot-up to 805 in 2022. Moreover, 8372 people were injured in 6092accidnets during this period. Many analysts from the Kashmir valley blame the pathetic condition of the roads and the Srinagar-Jammu Highway for the increase in the number of accidents on the highway.
Though the Government has initiated various projects for the safety and security of the commuters, the slow pace of the work has been questioned from various quarters of the society.
Recently, during the parliament session Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of road transport and highways in Lok Sabha said that most of the accidents were caused due to human negligence.
“As per the yearly analysis of road accident data, based on the first information report (FIR) data received from various states and Union territories (UTs), road accident deaths occur due to multiple causes such as over speeding, use of mobile phone, drunken driving or consumption of alcohol and drug, driving on the wrong side or lane indiscipline, jumping a red light, non-use of safety devices such as helmets and seatbelts,” the minister said—(KNO)
