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Alarming rise in road mishaps on NH-16
There is an alarming rise in road accidents on the National Highway (NH-16) in Srikakulam district. The NH-16 covers the district from Pydibhimavaram to Itchapuram. In a span of 29 months from January 2015 to May 2017, total 2,588 accidents occurred all along the NH-16 and 768 persons lost their lives in the accidents.
Srikakulam: There is an alarming rise in road accidents on the National Highway (NH-16) in Srikakulam district. The NH-16 covers the district from Pydibhimavaram to Itchapuram. In a span of 29 months from January 2015 to May 2017, total 2,588 accidents occurred all along the NH-16 and 768 persons lost their lives in the accidents.
Highlights:
- 2,588 accidents took place in 29 months
- 768 persons died
- Police launches awareness programmes
On an average every month 90 accidents occurred and 27 persons died. In 2015, total 1118 accidents took place and 297 persons were killed, in 2016, total 1,040 accidents occurred and 303 persons died, up to May 31, 2017 total 430 accidents took place and 168 persons were killed.
The main reasons for number of accidents are design defects on the NH-16, drunken driving, excess passengers on autos, using cell phone while driving, lack of proper traffic signals at accident prone junctions, lack of awareness among drivers and bike riders over road safety rules, high speed, stopping of vehicles on roadside without putting any signals, long journey with single driver and restless driving.
As a part of preventive measures, police and road transport officials identified 123 spots on the NH-16 where accidents are occurring frequently out of them 56 were marked as block spots where more than three major road accidents occurred in a span of three months. Out of the total 173 km stretch all along the NH-16, 70 km stretch from Pydibhimavaram to Narasannapeta was identified as accident prone area as more accidents occurred only in the month of May this year i.e; 53 accidents took place, 20 died and 17 seriously injured.
“We booked 504 cases and registered FIRs against drivers in one day on June 3 across the district to prevent auto drivers from carrying more passengers and violation of road safety rules,” sais Superintendent of Police J Brahma Reddy “Instead of these enforcing measures, we installed 11 CCTV cameras, deploying 12 patrolling vehicles, one speed gun vehicle to capture speeding vehicles’ photos, high mast lights at important junctions for better visibility, blinkers and alerting signs on the NH-16 to prevent accidents, the SP elaborated.
By Chowdari Lakshmana Rao
