Ongole: SP Malika Garg bags award for reducing death rate in accidents

Ongole: The creative use of technology to analyse road accidents happening in the district and enforcing strategies to achieve 'No Accident Day', helped the Prakasam district police win the prestigious Digital Technology Sabha Excellence Award for 2022, in the category of Big Data Analytics. In a presentation ceremony held virtually on Thursday, SP Malika Garg received the award while many senior officers applauded her achievement.

After joining as Prakasam district SP, Malika Garg initiated an innovative project, 'Road Accident- Risk Assessment and Enforcement Strategies' to prevent road mishaps and reduce casualties. The police department started collecting and analysing comprehensive information on road accidents in the district and formulate specific strategies to implement at ground level.

The department also preparing a causative analysis report on road accidents in the district, in collaboration with transport, R&B engineering and municipal authorities by assessing the causes of road accidents from various angles. Based on the report, the authorities are taking permanent measures to prevent similar accidents from happening again in future.

As part of the project, the accident points and black spots across the district were drawn on Google Maps, classified as 2020, 2021, 2022 and the current week to scientifically study the causes by working in tandem with other departments.

Apart from this, police department also took up a special drive, 'No Accident Day' every Saturday across the district along with innovative programmes such as 'Stop-Wash-Go', a face wash

programme regularly in the early hours by alerting the drivers, to prevent road accidents.

The special awareness camps, which the SP herself is attending, to educate motorists on road safety guidelines and traffic rules, and distribution of helmets to road accident victims and their family members also yielded good results in creating road safety awareness. The mass awareness campaigns on road accidents, traffic rules and motor vehicle laws are also being conducted at local auto stands, truck union offices and mini goods vehicle stands. The police are also strictly enforcing the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and installing special speed lens guns at various places to prevent accidents by controlling the speed of vehicles.

To provide a safe driving experience to motorists and to prevent accidents, police also set up highly visible sign boards focusing on black spots and interventions such as speed breakers, lighting systems, radium stickers.

As a result of this project, Prakasam district police have successfully reduced the number of deaths in road accidents by 27% compared to the past. Speaking on the occasion, district SP Malika Garg said such awards would help in providing better services to the people with renewed vigour. The district police officers and staff congratulated the SP.