Deaths & Injuries Due To Road Accidents Increased
Deaths and injuries due to road accidents were on the increase in the West Zone, with deaths alone registering over 2,900 during 2008, a top police official said. The zone comprising seven districts of Coimbatore, Erode, Nilgiris, Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri, has reported 2,923 deaths (excluding Coimbatore city) and 10,692 non-fatal injuries during the year, a 15 to 20 per cent increase over the last year, Pramodkumar, IG, West Zone, told reporters here.Attributing drunken driving, overspeeding and rash and negligent driving to the increasing trend of accidents, he asked the people to be more discliplined and obey traffic rules to prevent loss of lives. The majority of the fatal accidents has occurred on State Highways and district main roads, disproving the belief that it mainly occurred on National Highways, he said. ''As against the property loss of rs.17.04 crore and rs.15.80 crore recovery last year, 2008 reported property loss of rs.13.51 crore and recovery of rs.9.06 crore,'' he said. ''As many as 151 persons have been booked under Goondas Act,92 under Bootleggers act, while three, including two involved in Church attack case, were detained under NSA,'' he said.
