NEW DELHI: Roads in Uttar Pradesh claimed around 53 lives every day in 2016, accounting for 19,320 deaths in the year, the highest among all states since the central government started compiling details of road crashes at the national level.Admitting that rising road deaths was a major concern for the state police, UP’s additional DGP (traffic) Anil Kumar Agarwal told TOI that road accidents killed more people in the state every year than all crimes put together. According to official data, the number of people killed on UP roads was 17,666 in 2015.The number increased by nearly 2,000 last year despite significant decrease in road crashes from nearly 39,000 in 2015 to 35,612 last year. The data also indicates how every second road crash recorded in the state resulted in death of at least one person. Tamil Nadu also saw similar increase in road deaths from 15,642 in 2015 to more than 17,200 in 2016.“We are trying to find the reasons behind such high number of deaths on UP roads. The number of fatalities have gone up significantly on expressways. The number of vehicles being registered has also jumped in the state. We have directed all our senior superintendents of police (SSPs) to review the situation every month during their monthly meeting on crime related issues,” Agarwal told TOI.Sources in UP police said the grim situation could also be because of inadequate and poor quality of enforcement vis-a-vis better road infrastructure, which has been upgraded in recent years. “SSPs have been asked to improve enforcement in fatal zones till the time engineering and other measures are put in place to curb crashes,” Agarwal said.Road safety activists said the records of two major states registering more deaths in road crashes pointed to the need to address all aspects. “We need strong law and effective enforcement. We have appealed to all law makers to amend the present Motor Vehicle Act to meet the changing needs,” said K K Kapila of International Road Federation.