Just recently, a city police inspector met with an accident while riding a two-wheeler in Tiruchi. The officer was riding the vehicle without wearing a helmet on the goods shed bridge when a cyclist is said to have suddenly come in the way. The officer applied sudden brakes and fell from the vehicle when it skidded. Having sustained head injury, the officer is now recuperating in the intensive care unit of a private hospital in the city.
The instance is yet another case of a two-wheeler rider involved in an accident within the city limits that has been witness to several fatal and non-fatal accidents this year as well.
According to police statistics, a majority of those killed in road accidents within the city limits this year were two-wheeler riders. Nearly half of the casualties in road accidents reported within the city limits were two-wheeler riders.
Of the total 96 casualties in 89 fatal accidents reported from January to August this year, the figures of two-wheeler riders who died in road accidents were 46.
Barring a few cases wherein the riders were victims of accidents caused by self, in rest of the cases they died after their two-wheelers collided with other vehicles.
Enforcement and educational initiatives notwithstanding, fatal accidents within the city have persisted with its causes being varied.
There has been a marginal reduction in the number of fatal cases and casualties as compared to the corresponding period (January – August) in 2012. The number of fatal cases and casualties were 98 and 101 respectively during that period, according to police records.
Police sources say 43 fatal cases occurred on the stretches of national highways passing through the city, while 27 others were reported on other roads and 19 on State highways till now this year. Limited stretches of the Tiruchi – Chennai, Tiruchi- Madurai, Tiruchi- Thanjavur, Tiruchi – Pudukottai and Tiruchi Karur national highways fall within the city limits.
Although the reasons for fatal cases differ, police sources say they had been laying primacy on wearing helmet for the two-wheeler riders to reduce chances of sustaining head injury.
