Bengaluru did not see a significant reduction in drunk-driving related accidents even during the lockdowns in 2020, police data showed. In 2020, a total of eight fatal accidents and six self-accidents occured. In 2019, eight fatal accidents and four self-accidents took place, while in 2018, the numbers were 14 fatal accidents and nine self-accidents.
However, there was a drastic decrease in all other types of accidents. In 2020, 632 accidents took place in the city with 657 fatalities. In 2019, a total of 810 accidents with 832 fatalities occurred and in 2018, a total of 846 accidents took place, with 870 fatalities.
According to BR Ravikante Gowda, who is the Joint Commissioner (Traffic) of Bengaluru Police, the lockdown could be the reason behind the drop in accidents as COVID-19 restrictions were strictly enforced. However, he said that the enforcement had also improved. “It (reduction of accidents) might be because of lockdown but if we compare only those days which were not in lockdown in 2020 to 2019, then also we see a reduction in accidents. So, the reduction is because of enforcement also," he said.
There was a drastic reduction in the number of pedestrians who died due to traffic accidents in 2020 compared to the previous two years. In 2020, a total of 165 pedestrians died as compared to 285 and 273 in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
However, according to the data, there was a big increase in the number of footpath parking cases registered in 2020 compared to the previous years. A total of 45,455 footpath parking cases were registered. In 2019 and 2018, a total of 42,567 and 33,468 cases were registered.
There also was an increase in triple riding cases registered in 2020 where 93,966 cases were registered. In 2018, there were 84,276 cases registered and in 2019, 79,061 cases were registered.