East Godavari district registered 198 road accidents in the first five months of 2018. Though the figure is 18% less than the 233 accidents registered during the corresponding period in 2017, the steady rise in the number of victims has prompted officials of the departments concerned to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to minimise the accidents.
From identifying black spots and bad engineering of roads to taking action against the errant and increasing the awareness levels of the road users, a good number of initiatives are on the cards.
As many as 81 people were killed another 240 sustained injuries and some of them lost their limbs in the accidents took place between January and May, 2018, whereas the number of deceased and injured was 77 and 240 respectively during the corresponding period.
“There are many reasons behind these accidents and road engineering is one among them. As many as 214 pits and potholes have been identified on the R&B roads and barricading and road markings have to be taken up on the highways,” said A. Mallikarjuna, Joint Collector.
Violators face the music
Both the police and the officials of the Transport department have been registering cases against errant. “On the charge of violating the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, we have registered 15,808 cases and levied fine to the tune of ₹12.53 crore so far this year,” said Siri Anand, Deputy Commissioner of Transport.
