Effective patrolling, ambulance network save lives on T.N.’s roads

Personnel of the Home Guards were also deployed to assist the police in accident-prevention measures.

Strategic deployment of manpower and vehicles coupled with a sustained campaign on road safety in ‘Black Spots’ has helped Tamil Nadu reduce fatalities in accidents on its highways.

After leading the country in road accident deaths, the State doubled the number of highway patrol vehicles, particularly in 13 accident-prone stretches or ‘Black Spots’. Personnel of the Home Guards were also deployed to assist the police in accident-prevention measures.

“We have good coordination with the ‘108’ ambulance service and other agencies. While taking effective steps to minimise road accidents by way of creating awareness and enforcing road safety rules, we also made sure that optimum utilisation was made of the ‘golden hour’,” a senior police official said.

In the last three years, of the 22,700 victims of road accidents taken to the nearest government hospital within one hour or the ‘golden hour’, 15,000 survived.

“On the enforcement front, the power to impose fine on the spot which was confined to Commissionerates has been extended to all districts. About 60 lakh vehicles are being booked for various violations in a year. The number of deaths in road accidents has come down from 16,159 in 2012 to 15,176 in 2014,” the official said.

Students enrolled in Road Safety Patrol and personnel of the Youth Brigade are being deployed extensively for the road safety campaign in vulnerable areas.