Thiruvananthapuram: At a time when states like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have made moves to create an exclusive department for road safety, Kerala is yet to have an exclusive officer to ensure safety.
Rajasthan has recently planned to bring in the new Road Safety Bill and form an exclusive Road Safety department. In Kerala, the Traffic Commissioner holds the additional post of Road Safety Commissioner ever since it was created.
“The loss caused to the state in terms of accidents is too high. We have been appealing that an officer be appointed exclusively to the post of road safety commissioner,” said Traffic Safety expert Upendra Narayan.
The Road Safety Commissioner gets massive funds to rectify unscientific road construction and install accident mitigating devices. He needs to regularly audit the safety arrangements.
It is to be noted that accidents that take place in accident zones like Cherthala have only increased over the years. Also,road safety funds often get spent on road beautification.
Around 1921 people were killed in road accidents in the state until May this year. Annually around 4,000 people are killed and around 600 people are grievously injured in accidents in the state, reveals data released by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB).
