Pedestrian deaths in road accidents rising in B’luru as vehicle numbers rise

BENGALURU: The number of accident-related fatalities is rising in Bengaluru with the number of vehicles growing exponentially over the years.

The number of fatalities increased in 2022 as compared to 2017. Only in January this year, as many as 25 pedestrians have lost their lives in road accidents in the city.

Year – No. of deaths in road accidents

2017 – 609
2018 – 661
2019 – 766
2020 – 622
2021- 618

Special Traffic Commissioner M A Saleem said, “About 78 people have lost lives in road accidents in January 2023, of which 25 were pedestrians and the remaining 43 were two-wheeler riders and pillion riders. About  228 pedestrians died last year. There are 1.10 crore vehicles in Bengaluru, but the number of pedestrians death is low, when compared to the number of vehicles”.

He added, “The major reason for pedestrian deaths is that there are no proper footpaths in some parts of area and most of them are encroached upon. This made people forced to use the roads”.

M A Saleem, Special Traffic Commissioner, Metro should be speed up its work.

“Most of them are using private vehicles rather than opting for public transport. Many people are using two-wheelers and Metro work is also is going on. So, the traffic congestion is more in the city”, he added.

Saleem said about 3-4 lakh vehicles enter Bengaluru from the outside the city and there are 1.10 crore vehicles in Bengaluru itself. If Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) speeds up its construction work and suburban railway network is completed, the use of private vehicle will reduce, he felt.

“The traffic flow has improved after implementing Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) and it will further improve in coming days”, he added.