Agartala, Jan 9 (IANS): Road accidents have emerged as the biggest killer in Tripura, a senior police officer said on Monday.

According to Director General of Police K. Nagaraj, 174 people were killed in road accidents in 2016 as against 163 in 2015 - a rise of 6.75 per cent.

A total of 853 people were injured in road accidents in 2016 and 1,029 in 2015.

"Our target is to bring down the casualties in road accidents to zero," the police chief said in the inaugural function of the 28th Road Safety Week.

Nagaraj said that while in the entire country 39 people died in road accidents in a per lakh population in a year, in Tripura 4.5 people died in a per lakh population.

Since 2010, number of vehicles (all types) increased by 106.18 per cent in Tripura.

The Tripura Police head also said: "Road accidents have become a matter of grave concern. We are introducing several modern systems so that the culture of safe driving is encouraged."

Transport Minister Manik Dey said that the state government has taken many steps to reduce the number of road accidents.