Nellore: Even as highway accidents claimed 50 lives and left hundreds injured in the region, there is hardly any move to contain them except statements like identifying black spots and installing barricades and so on. All the stakeholders, be it transport department, highways and police, are aware that vehicles parked on the national highway and engineering defects at the road junctions where traffic from cities and towns join the NH are death traps.
But there are no concrete steps to take corrective steps because the proposals sent by local officials of the National Highway Authority to their headquarters in Delhi are in cold storage. Officials feel that one of the reasons for this situation is that the decision makers in Delhi are unaware of the ground realities. In a bid to make them understand the situation, NHAI officials have launched an exercise using drones to study the traffic pattern in the junctions for taking remedial steps to prevent accidents.
The photographs and video footage captured by the drones will be sent to the NHAI in Delhi to make them understand the gravity of the situation. Proposals pertaining to corrective measures are being prepared in association with road transport and police departments to send to the NHAI. An initiative by the police and transport wings against traffic violations on the highways since last one month has been paying dividends going by 50 per cent decline in the rate of fatal accidents and deaths.
Under the initiative, police, RTC and transport personnel formed five special teams which are inspecting traffic violations in five vulnerable sections of the NH between Kavali and Tada and from Naidupeta to Pellakur (Tirupati road) round-the-clock daily. Crediting Nellore SP P.H.D. Ramakrishna with the idea, deputy transport commissioner Sivaram Prasad said the number of deaths in the highway accidents had come down to 27 in July from 51 in June though the drive was launched from July 17.
He said police and motor vehicle inspectors had booked 6,000 cases for traffic violations during the two weeks and the fine amount collected was Rs 1 crore by motor vehicles inspectors and Rs 20 lakh by the police. The offences included drunken driving, driving without licence, overloading, speeding, riding without helmet, using mobile phone while driving and absence of vehicle fitness certificates. “We have decided to continue the 24 hours checking of vehicles by joint teams in future since it has brought dramatic change in the accident rate” Mr Prasad said.
