Road accidents went up in Prakasam district during 2019 due to increase in traffic density and violation of traffic rules.
More road accidents were reported on roads other than national and State highways in the interior places in the district. The number of mishaps was more during the first six months when the police were preoccupied with election bandobust duties.
“We controlled the speed of vehicles through speed laser guns on national Highways and this had a salutary effect on the number of accidents on highways,” explained Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal.
As many as 534 fatal accidents occurred during the year claiming the lives of 588 persons as against 461 accidents with 483 deaths in the previous year. As many as 152 deaths in 122 cases were reported on national highways, 132 deaths in 124 cases on State highways and 306 deaths in 288 cases on other roads.
The number of non-fatal accidents too witnessed an increase in 2019 with 925 accidents causing injuries to 1,824 persons compared with 1,769 persons injured in 926 accidents in 2018, according to a report compiled by the District Crimes Records Bureau.
Violators feel the heat
Police cracked down on violators booking 2.22 lakh cases and collecting ₹4.20 crore as fine during 2019 when compared to 1.69 lakh cases and collection of ₹3.50 crore as fine during 2018. To ensure transparency, the e-Challan system of imposing fines under the Motor Vehicles Act was brought into operation and a total 1.83 lakh e-Challans were generated, he explained.
The number of drunk driving (DD) cases came down to 10,719 in 2019 as against 12,205 cases in 2018, thanks to effective enforcement by the police. As many as 9,688 DD cases ended in conviction of the accused from whom ₹ 95 lakh was collected as fine in 2019 when compared to 9,932 cases ending in conviction with ₹1.25 crore collected as fine from tipplers in the previous year.
