The rate of fatality in road accidents has declined marginally in the Chennai city limits so far this year, compared with the previous year. According to the data from the Greater Chennai Police, 417 fatalities had been reported till October 18, 2022, and the number was 400 in the corresponding period this year. However, the non-fatal accidents went up. While 2,772 non-fatal accidents were reported last year, the number touched 3,012 this year. Most of the accidents involved two-wheelers, the police said.
Disciplined regulation
R. Sudhakar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said, “The Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) is working continuously to reduce road accidents, and the fatalities due to road accidents. The GCTP is striving hard to bring it off through rigorous enforcement and disciplined traffic regulation.”
“Apart from enforcement and regulation, we take steps to create impactful awareness among the road- users since accident prevention is a shared responsibility. We insist that people stay alert, follow safety guidelines, use protective gear and educate themselves on road safety. We are coming up with technological initiatives to prevent accidents, and for effective enforcement,” he said.
Special drives
The GCTP has been making a lot of efforts — registration of the maximum number of cases and special drives to curb drunk driving and wrong side driving and to promote helmets among the pillion-riders. So far, the police have booked 6,034 cases for over-speeding, 55,450 cases for signal violation, and 7,286 cases for using mobile phones while driving. Over 25,521 cases have been booked against motorists for drunk driving.
Mr. Sudhakar said, “We are cracking down on drunk driving. We are not sparing anyone who drives under the influence of alcohol. As and when a motorist is found drunk, our personnel subject him to a breath analyser test or medical test. We are following all standard operating procedures and booking cases.”
Over 190 cases have been booked for overloading in commercial vehicles and 2,703 cases for transport of persons in goods vehicles. Over 15,18,664 cases have been booked so far this year.
Officers trained
To keep itself abreast of advances, the GCTP introduced the 2D speed radar system, the vehicle interceptor system and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. The GCTP identified 108 accident hotspots across the city by using the Geographic Information System mapping through the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD), an initiative of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and made improvements to the road infrastructure.
The GCTP also tied up with the Centre of Excellence for Road Safety (CoERS) of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) for training its officers in adopting a human factor- or empathy-based approach towards identifying the causes of accidents.
Professor Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Head of CoERS, said, “Investigation is a complex process of collecting, collating and analysing evidence to synthesise a hypothesis. By applying design-thinking principles in a co-creative environment, the investigating officers were upskilled in a more data-driven human-centric approach towards crash investigation.”
The traffic policemen were trained hands-on in using the root cause analysis matrix (RCAM) methodology for performing a structure crash investigation. They were encouraged to use data-driven and scientific strategies to develop targeted interventions and also trained to improve the capacity of the investigation officers to perform death audits, he said.
Director-General of Police Shankar Jiwal said, “We are trying to reduce road accident fatalities. There is a substantial improvement over the last two years: the fatalities have reduced by 10% to 12% in some pockets. We have a 9% reduction in the fatalities, as of September this year, across the State. First, the hotspots, the places where accidents often occur, are identified and then remedial measures are taken.”
As many as 108 accident spots were identified in Chennai city and more were identified across the State. “We have a special task force for identifying the black spots for accidents. It is the only State where there will be a Road Transport Authority for road safety soon. At present, there is a road safety task force, headed by an Additional Director-General of Police, and a lot of suggestions have been received from stakeholders. The identification of hotspots is an ongoing process...,” said Mr. Jiwal.
Funds required
The DGP said, “We have been able to reverse the trend in fatalities in road accidents. This is an ongoing process. It requires a lot of funding too. We have been able to rope in the NHAI. In the last one year, the number of fatal accidents on national highways and State highways has gone down. We rope in the NHAI to spend ₹10 lakh-₹15 lakh on each hotspot, and We meet the rest.”
The Chief Minister has launched the scheme, Innuyir Kaapom. Nammai Kaakkum-48, for saving every life in road accidents. Under it, the treatment for any injured person is free till 48 hours. The average response time of ambulances in Chennai is 8 minutes. This helps to reduce the rate of death in road accidents. The faster access to medical assistance also reduces fatalities. Mr. Jiwal said the highway patrolling system has been streamlined with all vehicles fitted with a global positioning system and linked to the master control room of the police department. “With this, we hope the trend is reversing now. It will go down further,” he said.
