The Hindu : Spurt in two-wheeler mishaps

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 07, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Spurt in two-wheeler mishaps

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM SEPT. 6. Even as the authorities claimed to have intensified the crackdown on erring motorists, there has been a spurt in road mishaps, especially those involving two-wheelers, in the busy stretches of the city in the recent days.

A total of six two-wheeler riders have died in mishaps that occurred on the busy stretches at Kesavadasapuram and Pongummood on NH 47 and at Nemom and Malayinkeezhu during the last few days.

The most recent mishap was the one that occurred at Chenthi junction near Pongummood on the National Highway on Wednesday. A 29-year-old KSEB cashier, Krishnageetha, who was travelling with her husband on scooter was knocked down by a speeding KSRTC Superfast. She died on the way to hospital.

On September 2, a brother and sister were killed when their motorcycle collided with a tourist bus near the mosque at Kesavadaspuram.

According to the Traffic Police, the mishap occurred when the two-wheeler tried to overtake another vehicle.

The Circle Inspector, Traffic, Sanal Kumar, said the recent trend of youngsters below the age of 18 riding geared two-wheelers on the city roads has contributed to the spurt in accidents.

The Director of the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), T. Elangovan, when contacted, said that apart from rash driving by youngsters, the ongoing widening of several stretches of NH 47, which facilitated over-speeding, was responsible for the increasing number of mishaps.

He said that judging by the accident figures for the first six months of this year, the injury rate in two-wheeler mishaps had gone up. During 2001, five accidents occurred per day in the police station limits of the capital city, which resulted in 5.4 injuries per day and 8.3 deaths per month.

In the first seven months ending July 31 this year, 5.21 accidents had been reported per day in the city with 6.55 injuries per day and 9.29 deaths per month.

The largest number of 183 road mishaps which resulted in eight deaths, were reported from the capital during May, 2002.

During January to December 2001, 1,825 road accidents were reported in the city in which 1,961 persons got injured and 100 persons died. Between January and July this year, 1,110 mishaps were reported from the capital with 1,396 injuries and 65 deaths.

A Traffic police official claimed that the crackdown on erring motorists, especially two-wheelers, in the city had been intensified.

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