KOCHI: The two-month-long drive by the Motor Vehicles Department to prevent accidents in the Aroor-Palakkad stretch of the National Highway 47 has resulted in a fall in accidents in the Aroor-Angamaly stretch.

The driving licence of 181 people were suspended for blatant violation of traffic rules in Ernakulam district. The number of accidents recorded has fallen in areas coming under the main police stations at Edapally, Aluva and Angamaly.

M.N. Prabhakaran, Ernakulam RTO, says the decrease in accidents was recorded despite the increase in vehicular traffic because of Onam.

"Thirty one road accidents were reported in the Angamaly police station in the period from August 1 to September 20 last year. This year, the number has fallen to 11. The Edapally Traffic Police recorded 57 accidents in the same period last year, which fell to 48 this year. Similarly, there was a considerable fall in number of accidents in the Aluva area. But the sharp curves in Athani are a hazard," he said

During the drive, the driving licence of 230 people were impounded, of which 181 have been suspended for a month.

The major offences detected were overspeeding, drunken driving, using cell phones while driving, overloading, dangerous overtaking and jumping red signals.

"The interesting thing was that none of the drivers opposed the suspension of licence, since they knew that they violated traffic rules. In fact, some of them told me that the department should have embarked on the drive earlier. On our part, we will record the details of the licence being suspended, in the original licence. We will also inform the RTO office concerned about it, to prevent the person from taking a duplicate of the same. The licence will be cancelled if the driver indulges in the same offence again," says Mr. Prabhakaran.

Deputy Transport Commissioner (Central Zone) M.A. Rosamma, says that the fall in number of accidents could be attributed to the increased presence of MVD personnel on the roads. Thirty MVD personnel will be on the field till September end, round-the-clock, in the Aroor-Palakkad stretch. .

The Traffic Police say that fatal accidents are on the wane in Ernakulam city, because of better law enforcement. The efforts of the MVD have helped the police.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Edapally Traffic) James Joseph says that accidents are few in four-lane highways like the Edapally-Vytilla portion of NH 47.

"This is because of less number of median cuttings (u-turns). The existing ones are wide enough to hold a vehicle within. This is not the case in the Edapally-Aluva stretch of the NH, where there are median cuttings every 200 or 300 metres. The two-lane Vytilla-Aroor road has turned highly accident-prone because of the confusion over the four-laning work and because of the absence of street lights," he said.

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