84% of road accidents in A.P. caused by overspeeding

Percentage of public transport in State is dismal

Published - April 17, 2019 11:33 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM

Institute of Road Traffic Education president Dr. Rohit Baluja during his seminar at Gitam Deemed to be University in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Institute of Road Traffic Education president Dr. Rohit Baluja during his seminar at Gitam Deemed to be University in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Almost 84% of road accidents in Andhra Pradesh occur due to overspeeding, with lax enforcement being identified as a major culprit.

Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) president Dr. Rohit Baluja, speaking at a seminar on ‘Awareness Raising Workshop on Motor Vehicles (Driving)’ held in the city on Wednesday, said overspeeding accounted for barely 1% of the prosecutions of traffic violations in the State — indicating a serious lack of enforcement by the traffic police.

The seminar was organised in association with the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for officials of the Transport Department, Traffic Police, and Engineering Department from North Andhra districts and was held at GITAM (Deemed to be) University in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

In an interaction with The Hindu on the sidelines of the seminar, Dr. Baluja said that in Andhra Pradesh, almost 80.12% of the vehicles are two-wheelers and their contribution to road accidents is about 33%, which is the highest compared to other vehicles.

“The percentage of public transport in Andhra Pradesh is just 0.8%, which is very low compared to other States like West Bengal. If public transport increases, the accident rate would definitely come down,” he said.

Draft school bus policy

Dr. Baluja added that IRTE, in partnership with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, and in association with the School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi, is organising a two-day conference on the development of a draft policy for safety of transporting schoolchildren in all modes of transport, in Delhi on April 29 and 30.

According to him, about 10,000 schoolchildren below the age of 18, and about 35,000 students between the ages of 18 to 25, are dying in road accidents every year in all means of transport, including buses, two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws.

“School buses alone are not the problem, as just 1% of schoolchildren travel in their school bus. About 64% of these accidents occur on national highways. Even in A.P., we have observed that students are going to colleges by hanging off bus foot-boards,” Dr. Baluja said, adding that the draft policy will focus on safety in all modes of transport for schoolchildren.

Problem areas

Dr. Baluja also observed that factors like extra pillion riders, not wearing a helmet, driving without a seat belt, and stop line violations were being reported in large numbers from major cities including Visakhapatnam. Faulty road engineering also contributed to accidents, he said.

“Even though there has been an improvement in road markings, the traffic, transport and engineering departments should be aware of placement of sign-signal road markings properly. Similarly, there is also a need for awareness among licence issuers,” Dr. Baluja said.

A disproportionately large number of accidents occur on highways, he said. “Even though national highways just account for 3.5% of all roads, about 35.2% of deaths occur on them every year, which is a serious issue,” Dr. Baluja said.

The IRTE president opined that investigation of accidents should be more scientific.

According to him, about 25% of accidents occur due to faulty roads and bad road engineering. Road engineers concerned should also be brought to justice, he said.

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