The concept of safer roads continues to be a myth in Adilabad, a fact that is clearly highlighted by the undiminished rate of road accidents and the death of victims. Statistics related to road accidents never really reveal the cause but according to observers, most mishaps are a result of some human mistake on the road.
According to statistics available with the police, the year 2011 witnessed 1,154 road accidents involving 387 deaths and 1,920 injured people. There is not much of a change in the four-year-old pattern as 1,085 accidents have already taken place till the end of October, resulting in the death of 319 persons and injuries to 1,455 others.
Though the interior roads lack safety measures when compared to four-lane or other National Highways, the latter accounts for over 50 per cent of these deaths. Roads with ‘scientific’ safety designs are surprisingly unsafe. The 110 km four-lane NH 44 stretch in the district saw 46 persons dying in 42 accidents in 2011 and 26 victims dying in 25 accidents until October this year.
“The location of the break in the median of the NH-44 near Gudihatnoor bus stand is completely unscientific,” pointed out the Gudihatnoor Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency member Githe Keshav, as he picks out the black spots and accident prone areas in his mandal.
“The spot has seen innumerable accidents, many fatal, as it is located right in the middle of a very busy centre,” he added.
“We have done some bar coding, thick painting of warning lines in white colour, on either side of this spot. Though this is a temporary measure, it effectively reduces the speed of oncoming vehicles,” says National Highway Authority of India, Project Director of Nirmal Project Unit, Mir Hamed Ali.
The NH-44 is also dangerous for unsuspecting drivers near Seetagondi and Ichoda where fuel bunks are located on either side. Drivers who get fuel in these bunks often ply their vehicles on the wrong side of the road for some distance, thereby posing danger to the lives of other road users.
The four-lane 150 km stretch of NH-65 in the district has virtually become a ‘highway to death’ with as many as 193 persons losing their lives and 621 sustaining injuries in 470 accidents this year alone.
The death of Nandamuri Janakiram, son of actor Nandamuri Harikrishna on Saturday in Munagala mandal in the district is a grim reminder of the increasing road accidents and lack of safety measures. Rash and negligent driving coupled with over-speeding are the major reasons cited for such ghastly road mishaps by the police department.
There are several issues that the government and the concerned authorities have failed to adhere to. Police officials maintain that sufficient breath analysers are lacking in the district to check drunken driving. Although drunken driving is leading to accidents, official records show that not even a single case has been recorded.
A Circle Inspector told The Hindu that they do not have speed guns to check the speed of vehicles. While stations on the highway are focussed on maintaining law and order in the area, they lack the numbers to monitor traffic. Round the clock patrolling vehicles, equipment like breath analysers, speed guns and CCTV cameras are not provided to the stations on the highway.
The transport authorities too expressed helplessness, claiming that the staff was adequate only to carry out day to day duties like issuing licences and others. It has been suggested that it was time highway police stations were put in place on the 150 km stretch. There should be one station to cover a distance of 50 km.
Dr. K. Jayaprakash of Nalgonda says that there are no trauma care centres along the NH-65. He suggested that a trauma care centre could be set up near Narketpally. “The accident victims can be saved if they are rushed to the trauma care centre within an hour,” he said.
Truck drivers complain that lay-bys on the highway are constructed at isolated places, which forces them to park their vehicles on the roadside. A truck driver from Vijayawada, M. Srinivas, said that the truck lay-bys also lack facilities like hotel, toilets, patrol bunks and others. A number of accidents have occurred as vehicles have hit parked vehicles from the rear side.
People living in villages adjacent to NH-65 complain that they are forced to cross the National Highway quite often along with their cattle due to lack of service roads.
