The city has registered more deaths in road accidents than those in accidental deaths, murders, suicides and other such crimes, all put together. More than 300 people were killed in road mishaps occurred in the limits of the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate last year.
The reasons are many, with human error and negligence topping the bill. Violation of traffic rules, poor road geometry, bad condition of vehicles, lack of awareness on traffic norms are the other factors, causing road mishaps. In the last few months, police have booked some hundreds of people on the charges of drunk driving, driving while speaking on cellphone, overloading, driving in wrong direction and not possessing the mandatory documents.
According to police, as many as 3,918 persons have been booked for not having driving licences, while 1,150 vehicles were caught without registration papers (RCF Books) and 2,748 cases have been registered for driving vehicles without insurance, in the last three months.
City Police Commissioner A.B. Venkateswara Rao said the number of accidental deaths has surpassed that of murders in the city limits. Quoting figures, he said that as many as 10 murders were registered in the city, while accidents had claimed nearly 350 to 400 people in a year, apart from leaving some thousands more injured.
Despite police are organising sensitisation programmes, special drives and doing enforcement by collecting penalties, many vehicle riders are not mending their ways, causing road accidents, said the police officers.
Mr. Venkateswara Rao appealed people to maintain self discipline, follow traffic rules, prevent drunken and cell phone driving to avoid road mishaps. He advised the drivers to carry necessary documents along with them.
3,918 persons booked for not having driving licences in just three months
‘Despite awareness drives and collecting penalties, riders are not mending their ways’
