Killer roads: 20 districts account for 43% of road accident deaths in U.P.

Kanpur Nagar stood at the top with most road accident fatalities, followed by Agra and Prayagraj. Lucknow, with 381 annual average deaths, was in the seventh spot

Twenty districts in the state accounted for 43% of deaths in road accidents that occurred between 2019 and 2021, according to a report by the transport department. The remaining 55 districts annually reported around 57% of the total fatalities.

As per a report prepared by the transport department, these 20 districts reported as many as 9,858 deaths in 2019, 8,272 in 2020 and 8,904 in 2021.

“We have identified 20 districts that accounted for 43% of the total road accident deaths annually between 2019 and 2021,” road safety deputy commissioner PS Satyarthi said and blamed these districts for not taking enough measures to curb road accidents. “We regularly write to district magistrates concerned asking them to take necessary steps to put a brake on the number of mishaps in their districts,” he added.

The districts that reported the most accident deaths (in descending order), according to the official, are Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Prayagraj, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura, Lucknow, Unnao, Hardoi, Bareilly, Sitapur Fatehpur, Gorakhpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Jaunpur, Meerut, Barabanki, Shajhanpur, Ghaziabad and Kushinagar.

As per the report prepared by the transport department, these 20 districts reported as many as 9,858 deaths in 2019, 8,272 in 2020 and 8,904 in 2021. While the three-year average of fatalities in the 20 districts stood at 9,011, the state-wide figure was 21,010 for the same period.

Kanpur Nagar stood at the top with the most number of road accident fatalities (618 annually on average), followed by Agra (560), Prayagraj (550) and Bulandshahr (525). Lucknow, with 381 annual average deaths, was in the seventh spot.

According to the same report, these 20 districts combined had 34% of the total 1,110 black spots (accident-prone places) in the state in 2020. The number of black spots there slightly reduced from 494 (38.9%) in 2018 to 376 (33.9%) in 2020.

In its entirety, the state reported 22,655 road accident deaths in 2019, 19,149 in 2020 and 21,227 in 2021. Data for 2022 was yet to be made available.

Also, the state continued to take the lead in terms of annual accident deaths. It contributed 13.8% to the national figure and was followed by Tamil Nadu (10%) and Maharashtra (8.8%), according to an annual report recently released by the Union ministry of road transport and highways.