Notwithstanding the efforts made by the City Police during the year, road crashes have registered an overall increase this year compared to last year. The damage to most of the roads in the city following continual rain during the last cyclone, growing number of vehicles on the roads without a proportionate increase in infrastructure and non-compliance of traffic rules have contributed to the increase, opined Police Commissioner B. Shivadhar Reddy at a media conference here on Monday.
The volume of traffic has been growing by leaps and bounds. There were about 5.5 lakh vehicles of all categories on the roads and every year not less than 20,000 new vehicles were being added.
The road crashes which declined from 1,344 in 2011 to 1,147 in 2012 have once again increased to 1,210 during this year.
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The number of deaths increased from 384 in 2012 to 402 this year The road safety awareness campaigns like ‘Arrive Alive’, counselling of minor drivers and their parents by the Traffic Police, drive against drunken driving and cracking the whip on motorists violating traffic rules do not seem to have produced the desired results, the Police Commissioner admitted.
A good number of breathe analysers were procured in addition to the existing ones and cases booked against those found driving under the influence of alcohol. Six motorists were sentenced to jail by the court this year for ‘drunken driving’. The total amount of compounding fee collected for violations under the Motor Vehicle (MV) Act was Rs. 6,44,95,350 this year as against Rs.4,29,18,476 last year.
Mr. Shivadhar Reddy said that coordination meetings were being held with officials of other departments like GVMC, APS RTC and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for improvement of infrastructure on the roads. The work for installation of modern traffic signals and surveillance systems was under progress at 94 junctions in the city.
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A mega eye camp was organised for 512 heavy vehicle and other drivers on July 31 and 275 spectacles were given to those who have poor visibility. Cataract surgeries and eye treatment was advised to seven and 10 drivers respectively. Free left and central dividers with pre cast cement blocks was provided at various junctions and radium delineators were provided to bring down the incidence of road crashes. The services of 40 traffic guides was being utilised for preventing accidents involving pedestrians on the National Highway-16 between Hanumanthawaka and Old Gajuwaka.