The city has the most of number of accidents in Tamil Nadu, apart from Chennai. As many as 289 people were killed and 1,315 persons were injured in the textile city, according to data compiled by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Accidents are on the rise in Coimbatore. In 2012, the city roads claimed 270 lives and left 1,005 persons injured. In the following year, the number of deaths was 269 and number of persons injured went up to 1,147. In 2014, the number of deaths increased by seven per cent and number of deaths were up by 14.6 per cent.

Tiruchi is a distant second and Madurai is third in the number of fatalities and people injured in accidents, the NCRB data says.

Tamil Nadu with 15,592 fatalities and 68,365 injured persons is the country’s most unsafe State for motorists and drivers as it ranks number one in the NCRB data.

“Rash driving, drunken driving and non compliance with the helmet rule are the major reasons for the fatalities,” said a police official. When asked if the laws were implemented stringently by the police, he refused to comment.

“Coimbatore has the largest number of vehicles registered next to Chennai. So it comes as no surprise that fatalities are on the rise. As many as 1.20 lakh vehicles ply the city road, which have become congested,” said K. Kathirmathiyon, member, Road Safety Committee.

He said that accident prone spots should be marked and the cause of accidents identified. “Only then can solutions be reached,” he said.

He suggested an EEE approach: engineering, enforcement and education. While awareness measures were taken, poor engineering and lack of implementation of the law were not focused upon.