Lucknow, Feb 26 : Nearly 48 per cent people killed in road accidents in 2021 in Uttar Pradesh were those who did not wear helmets or seat belts. In 2021, nearly 21,227 people were killed in road accidents and 70 per cent of the total accidental deaths in 2021 and 2022 happened on national highways and state highways alone. The Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety (SCCoRS) which visited Lucknow last week held a meeting with various stakeholders including the public works department (PWD), NHAI (National Highways Authority), police and the transport department that is the nodal body for road safety in the state. Principal secretary, Transport, L Venketshwarlu said, "In the meeting, we gave a presentation on the overall scenario of road safety in the state and informed the committee that a large number of accident deaths happened possibly because the victims did not wear safety devices though people found not wearing a helmet or seat belt are regularly fined with a day in the week having been earmarked for this purpose only,". He further said, "We also informed that the majority of deaths occurred on national highways and state highways and all appropriate measures to deal with this situation were being taken by the concerning agencies." The transport department's presentation shows that 30 per cent (6,445) people who died in road accidents in UP in 2021 were not wearing a helmet at the time of the mishap while number of victims who were not using a seatbelt comprised 18 per cent (3,863). The year-wise data presented since 2017 showed almost the same trend. It was further revealed that of the total road accident deaths in 2020 and 2021 in the state, 40 per cent happened on national highways and 30 per cent on state highways. Expressways had one per cent share and the contribution of other roads was 29 per cent. As many as 111 people died on the state's first expressway, the Yamuna Expressway, in 2018, and 195 were killed in 2019. In 2020, a total 20 people were killed on this expressway, 136 in 2021 and 106 in 2022. The transport department also informed that 43 per cent of the total road accident deaths occurred in 20 of the 75 districts in the state in the last five years. The annual average of deaths in these districts came to 9,214 with Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj and Agra being the three top districts in terms of their share in road accident deaths. "Curbing road accidents and deaths need a joint strategy by all the stakeholders concerned and we have to work seriously the same direction at the earliest to save as many lives as possible in the state," the official said. /IANS