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Steep rise in fatal accidents on Kovai roads spurs police to act tough
The drastic increase in the number of fatal accidents in the district last year has made the police take several measures to avoid such incidents in the future.
By
migrator
migrator
Coimbatore
A total of 1,081 lives were lost in road accidents last year; 81 more than 2015. Statistics available with the Coimbatore city police shows that 300 lives lost in road accidents last year was the highest ever in a year. In 2015, the number was 265. More importantly, out of the 285 fatal accidents reported in the city last year, 111 involved two-wheelers. While 40 accidents involved buses, 34 others involved lorries. City Police Commissioner A Amalraj said that 27 murders were registered in the city last year and added that the number of lives lost in road accidents was over 11 times more.
“The 167 kilometres of roads criss-crossing the city have not been widened. But, 13.71 lakh vehicles are being added to these roads every year,” said the Commissioner adding that “In a recent meeting, the Director General of Police expressed concern over the alarming number of road accidents and stressed on the need to bring them down by 50 per cent.”
Last year, the city police booked 2,36,262 cases against persons for not wearing a helmet besides registering 13,878 drunken driving cases. But this could not bring down the number of fatalities. Pointing out that the penalty for not wearing a helmet was just Rs 100, a senior field level policeman said that the motorists were ready to pay the fine instead of wearing a helmet.
The district police said that the number of lives lost in accidents increased from 735 (696 accidents) in 2015 to 781 (730 accidents) last year. Now, the city and district police are working on precautionary measures besides being strict in enforcement to bring down the number of accidents. S Saravanan, Deputy Commissioner (DC) for Traffic, Coimbatore city police, said that based on the accidents last year, they have adopted a multi-pronged approach now.
“Besides taking stringent action against drunken driving and those riding without helmet, we have identified 35 accident prone areas and are erecting ‘Go Slow’ and ‘Accident Zone’ boards,” he told DTNext.
“At 12 major junctions, where smaller roads meet main roads and highways, temporary speed breakers and ‘Z’ barricading will be set up. The Corporation has agreed to lay proper speed-breakers at these places. They are also in the process of re-painting 55 speed breakers on main roads that have faded away,” he added.
On the awareness front, the city police had conducted road safety and traffic awareness programmes for 25,000 school and college students last year. This year, they have planned to double the number of attendees. With the help of the newly inaugurated traffic park, the police are confident of effectively taking road safety awareness to more persons.
Superbike clubs roped in to create awareness
The city police availed the service of two superbike clubs to draw attention of the public to abiding by the rules of the road.
They organised two road safety awareness rallies recently in which 155 superbikes took part. “These riders are well equipped with all the protective gear and are disciplined. We wanted to convey this message of being safe and following the rules to the public,” a traffic police officer said. “These superbikes have a top speed of over 200 kmph. But we ride them in the city at an average speed of 20 kmph. Having a bike with a powerful engine does not give one the right to take the speed limit for a ride. Safety is of paramount importance, so we always wear helmet and other protective gear,” one of the riders said.
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