Amritsar top in road fatalities

NEW DELHI: Among all the cities in India, roads in Amritsar have been ranked the deadlies, with a record of seven deaths in every 10 road crashes. Ludhiana ranked second with one death in every two crashes and Varanasi, third. The report released by the Transport Research Wing of road ministry shows that an overall number of deaths in accidents in 50 big cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, has been decreasing during the past three years. Fatalities have fallen from 17,007 in 2013 to 16,513 in 2015. However, numbers have gone up in rural areas, hitting 89,155 from 83,003 during the same period. “Speeding and little enforcement have been the main reasons behind the increasing number of fatalities. We must carry out a study to assess the socio-economic cost of crashes, fatalities and injuries since we are losing very young people in road crashes,” said Ashish Kumar, former TRW chief.