Mishaps come down gradually

Vijayawada: Due to the collective efforts being made by the police, transport departments and NGOs, the road accidents and fatalities are coming down gradually under the Vijayawada police commissionerate limits since April 2017. In all, 48 persons lost their lives in road accidents in April and May 2017.

During the same period of April and May, 63 people died in road accidents in 2016. Compared to the previous year, the number of accidents and deaths reduced this year. The rate of accidents is reduced by 30 per cent in April and 18 per cent in May 2017.

Vijayawada and surrounding areas are prone to the accidents due to Hyderabad-Chennai national highway and Chennai-Kolkata national highway. Traffic between Vijayawada-Hyderabad, Vijayawada-Chennai and Vijayawada-Vizag routes is very high and increasing further after Vijayawada became a capital.

The police have identified some dangerous black spots and increasing patrolling with the 11 Mahindra XUV 300 highway road safety mobile vehicles sanctioned by the Central government to check accidents on the national highways and state highways. These vehicles are patrolling the roads 24x7 and taking measures to check mishaps particularly at the hazardous black spots which are prone to accidents.

During the first five months of 2017, 136 persons lost their lives in road accidents under the commissionerate limits in 2017. Of the total, 48 deaths registered in April and May. Compared to 2016, the number of accidents declined this year. In 2016, April and May, 72 major accidents took place in the commissionerate limits. But, this year, the figure reduced to 46, said a senior official who is monitoring the traffic in the city.

The official said the accidents may come down further due to increasing patrolling on the highways and main roads of the city.These Mahindra XUV 300 highway road safety mobile vehicles are very useful to shift the accident victims to the hospitals. The city police with the support of Andhra Hospitals conducted training on the ‘Basic life support’ training to 75 personnel working on the highway road safety mobile.

The city police are keeping a close watch on the movement of vehicles to check over speeding, rash driving, triple riding, drunken driving and over loading which are the main reasons for the road accidents and deaths. Cell phone driving has become very common in the city as riders are least bothered about the accidents. Parking vehicles on the national highways also banned, but allowed at specific areas.

Command Control Room , which was set up at the AR Grounds, is also very useful to the police to keep a vigil on the main junction and clearing the traffic by sending messages through wireless sets to the cops on duty. Traffic has increased manifold in the city since Vijayawada became capital after bifurcation of the state.

The police officials said the accident and death rate declined in April and May in 2017 compared to the 2016 in spite rise in vehicles and traffic in the city. Road accidents may further come down once the Durga temple flyover works are completed.

By MD AMEEN