During the six month period from January to June this year 2,132 persons were killed in road accidents that took place in different parts of the State. As per statistics released by the police in this connection on Friday 17, 917 road accidents involving 27,154 vehicles had taken place in the State during the period.
Apart from those dead, 12,872 persons were grievously injured in these accidents. Eranakulam district topped the list with 2,695 accidents followed by Thiruvananthapuram district with 2161 accidents and Thrissur district with 2013 accidents. The least number of accidents was in Wyanand district, 309.
Interestingly, drunken driving accounted for only 49 accidents. Rash driving was the cause of 17,402 accidents and other reasons accounted for 466 accidents. When it comes to deaths in these accidents, Thrissur district topped the list with 276 deaths followed by Eranakulam district with 257 deaths and Thiruvananthapuram district with 235 deaths. The least number of deaths was in Idukki district, 36.
The National Highways of the State saw 4,848 accidents during the period. While 3,253 accidents had taken place on the State highways, 9,816 accidents had taken place on other roads. The highest number of accidents on the National Highways took place in Eranakulam district, 697. Alapuzha was second in this category with 611 accidents.
Among vehicles, two wheelers accounted for the highest number of accidents, 11,892 followed by 5,103 cars and 3,553 autorickshaws. While 1,952 private buses were involved in accidents during the period, the KSRTC buses involved was 673. 1,186 lorries and 1,018 mini lorries or buses were also involved in accidents during the period.
The highest number of two wheeler accidents during the period was in Eranakulam district, 1,950 followed by Thiruvananthapuram district with 1,732 and Kozhikode and Thrissur districts in the third position with 1,353 each. Rash driving which accounted for accidents was highest in Eranakulam, 2,627 followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 2,024 cases.
Drunken driving was not the cause of any road accident in six districts during the period. This includes Kollam district where 1429 road accidents had taken place. Thiruvananthapuram city accounted for the highest number of accidents caused by drunk driving, 36 followed by Kozhikode city with five. In Eranakulam city only one drunk driving case accounted for an accident during the period.
13,273 of the accidents during the six month period had taken place during the day and the remaining 4,644 during the night. Eranakulam district accounted for 2,005 night time accidents and Thiruvannthaapuram district for 1,615 accident during the night. Eranakulam district also accounted for the highest day time accidents, 690. Wayanad district had the least number of day time and night time accidents, 228 and 81 respectively.
One of the disturbing aspects of the statistics is that even though a small district, Alapuzha appears to be an accident prone district. During the period the district accounted for 1,504 accidents out of which 463 were accidents involving cars. 200 people lost their lives on Alapuzha roads in accidents.
During the whole of 2010, there were 35,082 road accidents in the State in which 3,950 persons had died and 24,994 grievously injured. In that year too drunken driving caused only the least number of accidents, 68 as per police statistics. Rash driving was again the cause for the highest number of accidents, 34,274. To wheelers also accounted for the highest number of accidents, 23,057.
