Bhubaneswar: Amidst the worsening Covid-19 crisis, there is a brighter side to it as road mishap deaths in the state has dipped by 65 per cent during the period from March 24 to May 31, 2020 as compared to the corresponding period of 2019 in Odisha.
According to official data submitted to Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, 1,087 people have been killed in road accidents from March 24 to May 31 last year while the figure has come down to 384 this year due to the curbs on vehicular traffic owing to the pandemic.
Similarly, the number of road accidents has decreased from 2,107 in 2019 to 836 this year. The number of injuries also decreased. While 2,175 persons have been injured in the mishaps in 2019, it stood at 722 this year.
Due to lockdown, shutdown and other restrictions, the vehicular traffic on the roads especially on the highways have drastically fallen down. As a result, the number of road mishaps also came down, said an official.