Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Road accidents on the decline

A. Saye Sekhar

Use of breath-analysers by police helps check drunken driving in Vijayawada

VIJAYAWADA: Road accidents resulting in fatalities showed a considerable decline in the last three months in the area covered by the city police commissionerate.

The significant drop in number of accidents and consequent deaths became possible not without any effort. Drunken driving is identified to be the chief contributor for most road accidents. With a view to preventing the accidents, the city police introduced breath-analysers at the tollgates on the two national highways (NH-5 and 9) that pass through the area under the commissionerate. Drivers of all types of vehicles were being subjected to breath-analyser test.

While vehicles move at a pace of almost 80 km per hour on the national highways what with the wonderful roads, vehicles within the city limits move at a pace of 30 kmph to 60 kmph depending on the timing - peak hour or lean hour. A surly swerve of the wheel in any direction on the highway usually results in a fatality.

`Impending danger'

City Police Commissioner Umesh Sharraff says most drivers think that nothing happens as they have consumed "just two pegs." But they don't understand the impending danger. A minute error in judging distances may cause a worst accident. If a person is driving at 80 km per hour, how much distance he covers in a second? Roughly 22.22 metres. The driver cannot exercise his control on the vehicle or the situation that suddenly stumbles in just one second. So say a big no-no to drunken driving.

The total number of deaths in road accidents in any year is always much more than any unnatural deaths including murders and even natural calamities. For instance, the number of murders (cases registered) in the State in 2003 and 2004 were 2,472 and 2,378 respectively. And, number of deaths in road accidents in the same period was an alarming 9,590 and 10,621. The number of injured was 53,898 (in 2004) and 47,545 (in 2003). While in murder cases, the number of deaths is usually one, it's generally more than one in many accidents.

As against 37 murder cases in the city, 240 cases were registered under 304 (A) - mostly road accidents -- in 2005 in Vijayawada. Murders and 304 (A) cases in 2004 were 42 and 222 respectively, while they were 31 and 231 respectively in 2003.

Monthly average

While the monthly average of fatal road accidents in 2005 on NH-9 in the commissionerate limits was 4.83, two accidents occurred in January, nil in February and just one in March. Relevant details of fatal road accidents in the last three months are shown in the accompanying graph.

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