The year-end road accident statistics compiled by the State Transport Department for 2010 hold no surprises for the average city dweller.
In the year that went by, 803 men, women and children were killed on the roads. Comparison with the statistics of 2009, where 761 people died in road accidents in the city, show that matters have only worsened.
With nearly 4,500 people injured in road accidents in the city in 2010, one out of every 10 injured persons in the State was from Bangalore.
Deadly statistics
Roads in the city's catchment areas — Bangalore (Rural), Ramanagaram, Tumkur and Chickballapur — claimed another 1,132 innocent lives, making southeast Karnataka the most dangerous place for commuters in the State.
After Bangalore, the most number of accidents were recorded in Belgaum, where 504 people were killed.
Arterial roads
But unlike in districts such as Belgaum, Tumkur and Bellary, where the majority of the deaths occurred on the State and National Highways that run through them, Bangalore's deaths occur on its internal road network.
The National Highways around the city claimed 172 lives and another 25 were killed on the State Highways whereas the bulk of the deaths (606) occurred on the city's arterial roads.
The statistics also reveal that 34 per cent of those involved in fatal accidents were pedestrians and 22 per cent of the victims were on two-wheelers.
Vehicle population
At a recent interaction with readers of The Hindu , Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) Praveen Sood admitted that the city's infrastructure could at best cope with about 20 lakh vehicles.
But that number has exploded to 40 lakh in recent years, making the job of enforcing discipline on the city's killer roads an onerous responsibility for the police.
