The number of road deaths in Calcutta dropped to 267 in 2019 from 294 in 2018 but the number of accidents involving buses, autos and pedestrians went up.

In 2018, close to half of those killed in road accidents in Calcutta were pedestrians. In 2019, the percentage of pedestrian deaths went up to 56.

In a city where footpaths are either missing or have been encroached upon, pedestrians are at the highest risk of accidents because they are forced to walk on roads risking their lives, police said.

But lack of footpaths apart, pedestrians tend to flout traffic rules leading to accidents, the police said. “We are in the process of identifying the problem areas that lead to pedestrian deaths. Options like refugee islands in the middle of big crossings are being explored,” Santosh Pandey, joint commissioner (traffic), said.

The traffic department has formed a task force to identify problem areas related to pedestrian movement in busy crossings across the city. To start with, the project has started from the Esplanade crossing, an officer said.

Senior officers recognised the need to curb bus accidents that went up to 497 in 2019 from 470 in 2018. The number of fatal accidents involving buses went up as well, according to police records.

It is common of private and government buses in Calcutta to move dangerously on roads or stop in the middle of roads to pick up or drop off passengers.

A traffic police officer said the biggest problem is the blind spot to the left of a bus. “In most cases, drivers fail to spot a person to the left. We have started introducing blind spot mirrors to help bus drivers,” the officer said.

In 2019, there were 128 accidents involving autos while the number was 98 in 2018, according to police records.

The rise is indicative of the lawlessness that prevails among auto drivers, many officers said.

While the number of accidents involving pedestrians, buses and autos went up, the number of accidents involving goods vehicles, private cars, two-wheelers, taxis, ambulances and other vehicles went down.

An officer said it was encouraging to see a dip in the number of fatal accidents involving two-wheelers (58 in 2019 while it was 82 in 2018).

The police have identified 22 “black spots” across the city, which are prone to accidents and need improvement in coordination with traffic and pedestrian flow.