MADURAI
The Madurai district police on Saturday said that the number of road accidents and deaths due to accidents had come down by 37 % in 2018, owing to a number of preventive measures.
Speaking to the media, N. Manivannan, Superintendent of Police, said that a total of 146 lives had been saved in 2018 through these measures taken in cooperation with the public, .
“While there were 1,651 road accidents and 399 deaths in 2017 (as on October 12), this year the numbers have come down to 1,406 accidents and 245 deaths,” he said, adding that the police were striving to bring them further down.
He said that in a focused exercise to reduce the number of fatal road accidents, a total of 80 accident-prone spots were identified across the district and safety measures improved. “In a stretch in Samayanallur, the police even took the initiative to lay a stretch of road to avoid accidents and it actually helped in greatly reducing accidents,” he said.
Another key measure taken in many accident prone areas was to place barricades on the road in a zigzag manner to reduce speed, the SP said. “This measure helped in bringing down rate of accidents,” he added.
He also attributed the reduction in the number of accidents and related deaths to stringent vehicle checks to prevent driving under the influence of alcohol and enforcement helmet use by two-wheeler riders.
Highlighting the formation of a Police Cyber Club to effectively crack down on theft of mobile phones and banking frauds like phishing, he said that the club had significantly improved the efficiency in resolving such cases.
Mr. Manivannan said in the past two months, 30 stolen mobile phones had been found and a total of ₹4.33 lakh swindled from bank accounts of 34 people by obtaining their personal information through phone calls and emails recovered and credited back to the accounts.
He said that the club was also organising awareness meetings in schools and colleges on how to prevent online fraud and be cautious while using social media.
Similarly, with the ‘Madurai Kavalan,’ two-wheeler patrol units receiving positive feedback from the public, he said that the number had been increased from six to 14.
“These units will be involved in patrolling round-the-clock,” he added. The recovered mobile phones were handed over to the respective owners by Mr. Manivannan on Saturday.
