Tuesday’s accident involving the vehicle carrying noted musician Balabhaskar’s family at Tamarakulam near the Pallipuram CRPF camp on the NH 66 around 4 a.m. has once again brought to focus the risks involved in night travel.
Balabhaskar’s two-year-old daughter Tejaswini Bala was killed in the accident.
Initial inference
Though the investigators are yet to arrive on what led the vehicle to veer off the road and ram the roadside tree, initial inference is that the driver of the vehicle that was coming from Thrissur to the city might have fallen asleep.
With a sharp rise in similar fatal after-dusk road accidents, the need is being flagged for travellers to take adequate precautions and for the police to take stern enforcement measures.
B.G. Sreedevi, former director of the National Transporation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac), says it is important to recognise the increased risks while driving at night.
“If we cannot avoid driving at night, we need to be well prepared and adjust our driving to be more defensive, as a disproportionate number of fatal road injuries occur after dark,” she says.
Night driving causes fatigue. Reduced capacity to concentrate and slowing down of reaction time are other prime hazards of driving after dusk. Although traffic is low during night on developed roads, motorists tend to increase speed. With more speed comes less visibility.
Recent cases
Recently, the KSRTC decided to enforce eight-hour single duty for drivers operating long-distance 500 super-class services at night after finding that a driver, Abdul Azees, was at the wheel for 9.15 hours of a super express that collided with a container lorry near the Ithikkara bridge at Kottiyam on August 13.
In the first six months of 2018 ending in June, 89 deaths have been reported in the City police limits.
Of the fatalities, 43 took place in the daytime and 46 at night. Of the 1,180 road accidents, 729 took place during daytime and 451 at night.
Several fatal road accidents involving those proceeding to the international airport in the capital and Kochi in the wee hours of the day have also been reported.
District Police Chief, Thiruvananthapuram Rural, P. Ashok Kumar says the time between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. is vulnerable, as this is time when many road accidents are reported.
“We carry out surprise checks and combing and are keeping vigil at night in the rural limits,” he says.
Added checking
Speaking to The Hindu , District Police Chief, Thiruvananthapuram City, P. Prakash says the police personnel have been asked to carry out checking between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.
In addition, they have been asked to keep a vigil on the spots vulnerable to accidents.
