Every month about 7,000 new vehicles hit the city roads and at present there are close to 11 lakh vehicles. The ever increasing number of vehicles is one of the prime reasons for the rise in road accidents, said Commissioner of Police T. Yoganand.
But he was quick to add “while the number of vehicles are on the rise we do not have a direct control on purchase and sale of vehicles. But we can always take up steps to reduce the rate of accidents.” There should be a concerted effort from all stake holders such as the police, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) to bring down the rate of accidents.
There has been a steady rise in the rate of accidents, while in 2014 the number of accidents was 1,321, in 2015 it was 1,335 and in 2016 the figure stood at 1,477. According to Mr. Yoganand, a number of problem areas have been identified which include 73-km of National Highway passing through the densely-populated areas of the city, lack of service roads on either side of the highway at most places, lack of road medians and grills at some parts, absence of foot over bridges or under paths, absence of bus bays, lack of signages and speed breakers on approach roads and presence of about 58 wine shops along the highway.
To begin with, the traffic police department has embarked on a road mapping project. “We are mapping the entire city roads with special focus on accident prone areas. The map will be integrated with the 94 CC TV cameras across all the 94 major junctions,” said ADCP (Traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu.
But the enforcement will yield results only when the other departments take up their jobs. Road engineering is a must at some critical spots and that has to be taken up by NHAI, GVMC and VUDA at some places. Various proposals have been sent to the stakeholders and action is awaited, said Mr. Mahendra Patrudu.
According to a senior officer from the Traffic Department, a proposal had been sent to the GVMC for creating a separate hawker zone, special drive to remove encroachments of cellars, and building16 foot over bridges.
