Noida: The city recorded a sharp improvement in road safety in the first quarter of 2026, even as Ghaziabad moved in the opposite direction — with more accidents, deaths and injuries than the same period last year, according to district-wise data released by the UP transport department on Thursday.In Noida, road accident deaths decreased by 13.2% — from 121 to 105 — between Jan and March. Accidents dropped sharply by 23%, from 300 to 231, while the number of injured fell 17.4%, from 219 to 181.In Ghaziabad, road accident deaths rose 16.7% — from 90 in Jan-March 2025 to 105 in the same period in 2026. Accidents climbed 1.6%, from 248 to 252, over the same period. The only silver lining was a 4.3% decline in the number of injured persons, from 188 to 180.GB Nagar ARTO (enforcement) Udit Narayan attributed Noida’s gains to sustained awareness and enforcement drives. “We conducted awareness and enforcement drives due to which road accidents and related deaths dropped this year compared to the previous year. We are further expediting enforcement to cut fatalities by 50% as decided by the govt,” he said.The data was shared as part of a broader push by the UP transport department, which asked all regional transport officials to prepare fresh action plans to reduce road accident deaths.
The measures include better road engineering, faster accident response, improved trauma care within the golden hour, stricter enforcement and wider public awareness.Deputy transport commissioner Mayank Jyoti, in a letter to transport officials across UP, said the state road safety council set a target last year to reduce road accidents and fatalities by 50%. “The district-level committees have been directed to prepare a fresh action plan and undertake all possible efforts — improved road engineering, rapid response to accidents and better trauma care within the golden hour — to achieve at least a 50% reduction in deaths from road accidents compared to the previous year,” he said.The push aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of halving global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030, a commitment also reinforced by the Stockholm Declaration 2020.Across UP’s 75 districts, Fatehgarh recorded the steepest rise in fatalities — up 43.5%, from 62 to 89 — while Ambedkar Nagar saw the sharpest improvement, with deaths falling 41.1%, from 73 to 43.At the state level, UP recorded a marginal 0.4% drop in total accidents (12,549 to 12,502) and a 3.4% decline in deaths (6,863 to 6,629) from Jan to March. However, injuries rose 5.5%, from 9,453 to 9,969, in the same period.
