Thanks to a tabulating error made by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Vijayawada has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest number of drunken driving deaths among 53 cities in India. If data released by the apex crime monitoring agency for the year 2014 is to be believed, the city registered 335 deaths due to drunken driving last year.
The number, set off against figures for other cities, is patently absurd: Hyderabad recorded zero deaths due to tipsy motorists and Vizag 7. Metropolises like Mumbai (2), Chennai (47), Bangalore )13) and Delhi (26) pale into insignificance compared to Vijayawada if NCRB’s figures were correct.
Asked how Vijayawada could have earned the dubious distinction, the city police scanned their own records and eventually came to a conclusion that it was a tabulating error by NCRB.
DCP Ashok Kumar said, “This is a clear data entry error. The figure of 335 deaths due to speeding or rash and dangerous or careless driving have been entered into the table relating to drunken driving fatalities.”
Sure enough, Table 1A.2 of the NCRB data presentation, referring to traffic accident fatalities, reports the same number, 335.
Said Mr Ashok Kumar, “”It just can’t be. We record on an average, 300 drunk driving cases every month, or about 3,600 cases a year. The chances of registering 335 deaths in one year are bleak.””
He estimates that that Vijayawada would have a maximum of 10 deaths due to drunk driving.
While Vijayawada may have got off lightly due to a data entry error, Andhra Pradesh cannot: The State leads the country with 387 drunk driving deaths last year. Telangana is only a notch more sober, with 364 deaths.
