Every day, a dice with death on city roads

Edappally, Vyttila and Kundannoor turn danger zones

Next time you drive around the city, beware of these high danger zones that are terribly accident-prone.

Records available with the city police puts the road leading from Cheranelloor Junction to Amrita Hospital stretch under the Traffic East police station, which witnessed as many as 41 accidents last year alone, as the most dangerous. This is followed by the Chalikkavattom-Chakkaraparambu road with 37 accidents and the Palarivattom Bypass-EMC Hospital with 32 accidents. Besides, the three key junctions on the National Highway 47 - Edappally, Vyttila and Kundannoor junctions, which witnessed about 30 accidents each - have also been identified as accident-prone.

Under the West Traffic Police jurisdiction, the Palluruthy Veli-Kacherippady stretch at Edakochi witnessed about 28 accidents, followed by Thevara Bridge-Thevara Ferry road and the Atlantis Junction with 17 and 13 accidents respectively.

While the city witnessed a total of 2,257 road accidents in 2014 (1,431 in East Traffic and 826 in West), the year 2015 saw the accidents rising to 2,561 (1,661 in Traffic East station jurisdiction and 899 in West). The accident-related deaths too increased with the year recording a total of 168 fatalities compared to 136 the previous year.

Many factors

Traffic officials attribute the high accident rate at these locations to a variety of factors such as faulty intersection design, road signage and marking and driver visibility, among others. The sharp rise in the number of vehicles is also a key factor contributing to it, they pointed out.

Based on the finding, the Traffic West police recently carried out a joint inspection with the Motor Vehicles Department and the Public Works Department along the dangerous roads under its jurisdiction and aim to develop these roads as model roads.

“A detailed report suggesting some engineering measures to improve driver visibility has been submitted to the Public Works Department. It encompasses measures such as removal of hazards, redesign of junctions, provision of appropriate road markings and traffic signs and minor layout changes in the road, among others,” said K.S. Baby Vinod, Assistant Commissioner, Traffic West.