NEW DELHI: Though there are just 438km of national highways spanning the capital, the number of deaths per kilometre has been high in the last three years. In 2021, there was at least one fatal accident every two kilometres on the national highways. Experts surmise that this could be because people usually drive at speeds up to 100kmph on highways.
As per the analysis of road deaths by Delhi government’s transport department, there were 240 accidents with fatalities in 2021. This put the death per kilometre on the highways at 0.55 or a person losing his life in a motor accident every two kilometres. In the case of arterial roads in the city, which measure 1,494km, 294 people lost their lives in 2021. The death per kilometre on arterial roads, therefore, was 0.2, which translates into one person killed every five kilometres. Collector and local lanes recorded the lowest fatalities/km.
