Coimbatore tops in killer roads

Fatalities on the Coimbatore roads are on the rise with seven more lives lost compared to last year when 227 people died in the first five months.

The West Zone, comprising eight districts, has recorded a total of 1,548 fatalities, a rise by 84 deaths compared to the 1,464 fatalities last year in the same 5-month period. The gory deaths on the roads are galloping in western TN every year, with 3,321 people getting killed in 2013 and 3,427 people dying in accidents in 2014.

Next to Coimbatore comes the Krishnagiri district, where 248 persons were killed in mishaps till May as against 210 persons during the same period last year. It is closely followed by the industrial hub of Tirupur, where 232 persons were killed so far as against 248 persons in the same period last year.

According to Inspector General of Police (IG) of West Zone K Shankar said that accidents mainly happen due to human negligence. “Cops have been deployed on regular patrols during nights to prevent halting of vehicles on highways in all the Western districts to prevent mishaps. Our efforts too have proved successful, as there was no major fatal mishap due to stationed vehicles over the last few months,” he said.

Police said Sunil was on his way to Pollachi in a car, when a speeding private bus collided head on with his vehicle. "The private bus driven by Suresh, 29, had tried to overtake a government bus and ended up ramming the car coming in the opposite direction," police said.

Sunil, who suffered grievous bleeding injuries, was rushed to a hospital, but died without responding to treatment. The bus driver and two other women passengers, Manjula Devi, 35 and Dhanalakshmi, 29, who were sitting in the front rows suffered injuries and are undergoing treatment.

The L&T bypass Road- Pollachi Road junction, Othakalmandapam and SIDCO were identified as the most accident prone areas on the Pollachi Main road. “A study should be done to re-align road engineering at these junctions to curb accidents,” said V. Easwaran.

As buses running at a high speed are the prime reason for increasing number of mishaps, there has also been a persistent demand to increase their running time. "The running time of the buses should be increased from the current one hour by giving an additional ten minutes to prevent their over speeding. The bus timings, which were fixed long back, could not be followed now due to the increase in number of stops and frequent traffic congestion on the stretch," he said. As a long term solution, the stretch from Ukkadam to Pollachi should also be four- laned to curb accidents.

Besides, motorists lack road sense, traffic discipline and a sense of civic responsibility, he laments. “There is a growing sense of stupidity among the vehicle drivers, who deliberately violate rules without responsibility. With utter disregard for lane discipline, even buses stop in the middle of arterial roads causing inconvenience to others. People overtake on the left, not realising that they are risking not just their lives, but that of others too,” he said.

Laws alone are not sufficient to curb violations, but public should realise their errors and try to rectify them. Besides poor infrastructure and other inadequacies, there should be a change in the mindset of the public. According to N. Kennedy, chief traffic warden, school students are being enrolled in large numbers in road safety patrols (RSP), to sensitise their parents and siblings on road rules.

“We have planned to sensitise the concept of road engineering to students by introducing it in schools. The educational institutions with a larger campus will be chosen; zebra crossing, parking lots and others would be developed and enforced among the students. This will inculcate a habit for students to follow the same regulations even outside their campus also. Currently there are RSPs in 115 schools in Coimbatore,” he said.

The public, however, say that despite enforcing rules, the administration should also ensure adequate facilities for road users to prevent mishaps. Pedestrian safety cannot be ensured until there is proper pavement facility, which is grossly lacking here for the pedestrians. "Even those little road stretches with pavement facility remain encroached upon defeating their basic purpose," said V. Suresh Kumar, a marketing executive in a private firm from Saibaba Colony.

However, district superintendent of police M. Sudhakar claimed that accidents in Coimbatore district have been on the decline over the years. “Despite increase in vehicle population and congestion on roads, intervention and awareness activities by police have ensured a dip in accidents in the district. Besides educating road users, police were also taking all out efforts to curb accidents by booking cases for drunken driving, over speeding and other offences. Further as most of the road works and bridge works were on the verge of completion, there may be a further decline in the accidents in the coming days,” he said.