An 11.6% dip in fatal road accidents was reported in State’s roads in November this year compared to the same period in 2018, indicating that enforcement measures by the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) and the police have paid off.
Compared to 352 persons killed in road accidents in November 2018, 311 fatalities were reported in November 2019.
However, the number of road accidents during the period increased by 0.2%. The number of accidents in November 2018 was 3,499, while it went up to 3,456 in November 2019, as per the road accident statistics compiled by the Technical Support Group (TSG) of the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA).
Four key districts
Four key districts — Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode — registered a dip in the fatalities in November 2019.
The road accident fatalities in Thiruvananthapuram went down from 51 in November 2018 to 45 in November 2019 (-11.8%), Ernakulam (47 deaths in November 2018 to 45 in November 2019; -4.3%), Thrissur (44 deaths to 26; -40.9%) and Kozhikode (23 deaths to 16 deaths; -30.4%).
After helmet rule
The road accidents in Thiruvananthapuram came down from 427 in November 2018 to 400 in November 2019 (-6.3%). In Ernakulam district, it came down from 575 to 561 (-2.4%), Thrissur (408 to 367; -10%), Kozhikode (283 to 281; -0.7%) and Kasaragod from 94 in November 2018 to 69 in November 2019, showing a dip of 26.6%), according to the statistics compiled from the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB).
“This is a positive trend. Studies have to be carried out to find the reasons for the dip in road fatalities. The use of helmet has gone up among motorcyclists and pillion riders and this will reflect in the road accident statistics from December,” N. Shanker Reddy, Road Safety Commissioner, KRSA, told The Hindu .
Law-enforcers started issuing challans to erring motorists as per the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 only from December, when the headgear was made mandatory for motorcyclists and pillion riders.
