Frequent accidents and lack of safety measures have made the Mannuthy-Karukutty stretch of the National Highway a nightmare for motorists and pedestrians.
There were 253 accidents on the 38-km stretch last year.
The accidents claimed 44 lives and injured 380 people, most of them critically.
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As per statistics from the Ollur, Puthukkad, Kodakara, Chalakudy, and Koratty police stations, obtained under the Right to information Act by P.B. Satheesh of the Nerkazhcha Human Rights Organisation, 2,756 accidents had been reported from the stretch since 2011, claiming 537 lives and injuring 2,395, when the four-lane highway was opened to traffic.
In the absence of subways and foot overbridges, pedestrians, often the elderly and children, find it difficult to cross the road.
Result: 168 pedestrians died in 551 accidents since 2011. Local people say subways and overbridges are imperative as the National Highway passes through densely populated areas in the State, unlike other States.
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Unscientific laying of roads and potholes have made things worse.
As per a NATPAC (National Transportation Planning and Research Centre) report, there are 24 black spots between Mannuthy and Karukutty. (Places recording more than 20 accidents are marked black spots.)
Many local people say authorities refuse to adopt safety measures though crores of rupees are being collected from motorists. The promised subways and overbridges are still a pipe dream.
If this is the state of the four-lane highway, accidents will be manifold on the six-lane Mannuthy-Wadakkanchery highway, says Nerkazhcha.
“There are 35 subways on the 25-km stretch of the six-lane highway from Coimbatore to Avinashi. Of these, nine are exclusively for cattle,” it says.
It has submitted a report on the accidents to the Thrissur Collector and sought commissioning of the Mannuthy-Wadakkanchery highway only with sufficient security measures.