Road rage causes most fatalities

Road rage causes most fatalities
Keerthana Thorat | TNN

Bangalore: It’s not just the young and hot-blooded who speed on the roads and become accident statistics. Figures collated by the traffic police tell a different story.
In 2007, the city’s 358 fatalities were in the 31-50 age group in comparison to 309 between 19 and 30. Till April 30 this year, there were 111 fatalities in the 31-50 age group while in the 19-30 group, there were 88 fatal accidents.
The traffic police say road rage is the main cause of accidents in the 31-50 age group, making them more vulnerable. “Most accidents that occur among this group happen in a fit of rage. Road users get annoyed if others overtake them. In retaliation, they drive dangerously and violate traffic rules, resulting in accidents. Since they don’t have licences and are afraid of being caught by the police, they drive recklessly, killing or injuring themselves or other road users,’’ explained the police.
In 2005, there were 289 accident-related fatalities in the 31-50 age group; in 2006, this number was 304. Similarly, the 19-30 age group fatalities in 2005 were 286. This rose to 331 in 2006.
There’s been a staggering increase of non-fatal accidents in the 19-30 age group. In 2007, this group recorded 2,758 accidents; in the 31-50 year category, the number was 2,333. The primary causes are drunken and dangerous driving.
Hour-wise and day-wise statistics indicate that more accidents occur from 9 am to 9 pm. Accidents are high on Fridays and Thursdays. TRAFFIC POLICE SURVEY Hitting medians at night is common
Bangalore: Two-wheeler riders hitting road medians and dying is becoming common in Bangalore.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic and security) Praveen Sood says this occurs especially at night among motorists who are 20 to 30 years old. Drunken driving and over-speeding are the main reasons.
Most accidents occur at night when there is ample scope for violating rules. Common are one-way violations, signal jumping, overtaking from the left, using mobile phones while driving. Lack of sufficient policing at night is one factor responsible for such accidents.
From 2005 till April this year, over 35 lakh cases have been booked under the Motor Vehicles and Karnataka Police Act.
Most of them pertain to drunken driving, rash and negligent driving, driving without licence and signal-jumping. Fines of Rs 78 crore have been collected since 2005.
toiblr.reporter@timesgroup.com