There is no stopping dance of death on the roads as in the year that went by, road accidents across Jammu and Kashmir proved fatal for 728 people while injuring nearly 5900.
Even though this year had restricted movement to large extent in view of coronavirus pandemic induced lockdown, the official data compiled by Jammu and Kashmir Traffic Police shows that a total of 728 people died in the road accidents that occurred across J&K in 2020. In addition to this, 5894 people were injured, of which 3377 were grievously injured, and 2517 had received minor injuries.
Pertinently, Jammu division witnessed 487 deaths caused by road accidents, which is comparatively higher than Kashmir division, which witnessed 241 deaths.
The district-wise deaths in Kashmir division have been reported as – 45 in Srinagar, 13 in Ganderbal, 9 in Budgam, 38 in Anantnag, 21 in Kulgam, 13 in Pulwama, 2 in Shopian, 22 in Awantipora, 20 in Baramulla, 12 in Bandipora, 15 in Kupwara, 15 in Handwara, 16 in Sopore.
Similarly, the district-wise deaths in Jammu division have been reported as – 92 in Jammu, 51 in Samba, 75 in Kathua, 66 in Udhampur, 32 in Reasi, 36 in Doda, 28 in Kishtwar, 51 in Ramban, 25 in Poonch, 31 in Rajouri.
Accordingly, Jammu district tops the list of districts from across J&K with the most number of deaths.
Further, Jammu division, regrettably, also leads in injuries (inclusive of Grievous and Minor injuries) caused due to road accidents. While 2096 people in Kashmir division received some kind of injury during the accident, Jammu division had as many as 3798 injured people.
The district-wise injuries in Kashmir division have been reported as – 275 in Srinagar, 139 in Ganderbal, 157 in Budgam, 324 in Anantnag, 168 in Kulgam, 83 in Pulwama, 26 in Shopian, 91 in Awantipora, 255 in Baramulla, 101 in Bandipora, 196 in Kupwara, 153 in Handwara, 128 in Sopore.
Likewise, the district-wise injuries in Jammu division have been reported as – 1117 in Jammu, 330 in Samba, 471 in Kathua, 465 in Udhampur, 206 in Reasi, 207 in Doda, 97 in Kishtwar, 242 in Ramban, 211 in Poonch, 452 in Rajouri.
Here too, Jammu district tops the list of districts with the most number of injuries.
Notably, 984 deaths were reported in the erstwhile state of J&K in the year 2018, while 7845 were injured. And 996 deaths were reported in the year 2019, while 7532 were injured. Even then, Jammu division led in the number of deaths due to accidents with 639 and 695 deaths, and also in the number of injuries due to these accidents, with 5034 and 4987 injured people, respectively.
Furthermore, the official data puts the total number of road accidents at 4860 that occurred across J&K in 2020. Of this, 623 were fatal, that is, they involved casualties, while the grievous injury (GI) crashes were reported to be 2046, minor injury (MI) crashes were 1641, and non-injury (NI) crashes were 550.
The Kashmir division recorded 1774 road accidents, and Jammu division is again found to be leading with 3086 accidents in 2020.
The district-wise accidents in Kashmir division have been reported as – 275 in Srinagar, 105 in Ganderbal, 128 in Budgam, 265 in Anantnag, 147 in Kulgam, 65 in Pulwama, 30 in Shopian, 91 in Awantipora, 212 in Baramulla, 70 in Bandipora, 158 in Kupwara, 121 in Handwara, 107 in Sopore.
Similarly, the district-wise accidents in Jammu division have been reported as – 974 in Jammu, 303 in Samba, 348 in Kathua, 356 in Udhampur, 143 in Reasi, 197 in Doda, 67 in Kishtwar, 200 in Ramban, 165 in Poonch, 333 in Rajouri.
As evident, Jammu district has witnessed the most number of accidents. Also, it has witnessed the highest number of fatal accidents in 2020, which is 88.
It is worth noting that 5978 road accidents were reported in the erstwhile state of J&K in the year 2018, of which 809 were fatal, while 5796 road accidents were reported in the year 2019, of which 762 were fatal. In both the years, Jammu division had registered a comparatively higher number of accidents, and of them 554 and 505 accidents were fatal, respectively.
As per Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Jammu and Kashmir ranks second across India in the tally of road accidents per 10,000 vehicles with an average of over 900 deaths every year in the last five years.
Also: Read my article at The News Now
J&K: 728 killed on road in 2020
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