National highways that cut through the city and turn into major arterial city roads pose high risk for commuters, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.
Almost one-fifth of all accidents in the city are reported from these national highways/arterial roads — Ballari Road, Hosur Road, Tumakuru Road and Old Madras Road. In the 847 accidents reported in 2014 on these roads, 1,194 people were injured and 169 killed. The number of people injured is phenomenally high, say the police.
In comparison, State highways in the city — Bannerghatta Road, Magadi Road, Mysuru Road and Hesaraghatta Road, have seen only 266 accidents and 34 casualties in the same period.
Ashwin Mahesh, urban infrastructure expert, said the issue was peculiar to the city as the national highways make up for the major arterial roads, and the recent spurt of growth in workplaces has been along these arterial roads. “The network of national highways and their development as commercial hubs varies from city to city,” he said.
The development of these national highways into happening corridors in the city has also meant that they have some of the finest high-speed six-lane roads.
“Over speeding and reckless driving are major concerns on these national highways in the city. While the speed limit on these stretches is 80 kmph, it is common to see cars zooming away at more than 120 kmph during non-peak hours. Not just that, Ballari Road and Hosur Road are also hotspots for drag racing and wheeling drives by reckless youth,” said a senior traffic police officer.
“Hosur Road and Ballari Road are the most accident prone. Though we have initiated steps like booking jaywalkers and over-speeding motorists, the number of accidents on these stretches has not ebbed,” M.A. Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, and added that pedestrians were the most vulnerable on these national highways.
Number of accidents | No. of injured | No. of deaths | |
2014 | 5,004 | 4,098 | 729 |
National highways | 847 | 1,194 | 169 |
State highways | 266 | 261 | 34 |
Expressways | 24 | 6 | 4 |
Accidents on national highways (2015 till May 31)
Number of injured | Number of casulaties | |
Ballari Road | 122 | 26 |
Hosur Road | 107 | 26 |
Old Madras Road | 104 | 22 |
Accidents on national highways in Chennai (highest in the country)
National highways | 1,825 | 1,865 | 218 |
