Fatal accidents fall by 38.1% on Hyd-Bijapur Corridor

Hyderabad: The World Bank Group and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways conducted a study on the 118 km stretch Hyderabad-Bijapur corridor stated that after the intervention of 4E’s (Engineering, Enforcement, Education, and Emergency Care)there is a reduction of 38.1 percent deaths in five years. The Roads and Buildings Department of the Government of Telangana, in collaboration with the World Bank Group, constructed a Road Safety Demonstration Corridor to make State roads safer.

The study ‘Road Safety Good Practices’, conducted by SaveLIFE Foundation in collaboration with the World Bank Group and Road Transport Ministry was released by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways on Monday. The 118 km long Hyderabad-Bijapur corridor runs through the districts of Rangareddy and Telangana. It extends from the APPA junction where it intersects the ORR (Outer Ring Road) up to the Karnataka border. The route travels through several mandals, villages, including Moinabad, Chevella, Manneguda, and Parigi. The 118 km stretch on the Hyderabad-Bijapur Corridor witnessed a crash severity of 58.7 in 2014 which was higher than the national average 28.5 for the same year

Based on the data received by the Telangana Roads and Buildings department, in 2014, before the Hyderabad-Bijapur Corridor was adopted as a Road Safety Demonstration Corridor, the stretch witnessed 143 crashes and 84 deaths. This indicated that there was a requirement for urgent intervention to augment road safety on the stretch. In an attempt to adopt a convergent approach by stakeholder departments as opposed to a divergent approach towards road safety, the establishment of the Road Safety Demonstration Corridor project was the need of the hour.

The good practices across the 4E’s of road safety have yielded good dividends and reduced the number of accidents significantly. To improve the intersections and curves of the project stretch, measures such as widening of the road, tree translocation, and road furniture upgradation were taken up by the R&B Department. 126 trees were translocated, Road furniture was upgraded, and street lighting was installed at intersections. Patrolling and interceptor vehicles for the project were equipped with laser speed guns, fluorescent cones, body-worn cameras, video still camera (digital), fluorescent-painted jackets and helmets for the personnel’s safety and mobile barriers.

Overloading was identified as one of the leading causes of road crashes, involving trucks. To check the overloading violations, two electronic weighbridges were installed on the corridor. the operation of ambulances and connectivity to the nearest Trauma care center were strengthened The project has been jointly funded by the State Government and World Bank. The total amount of implementation was Rs. 297.9 million ($ 4.3 million)