Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Speedsters increase risk on roads

Staff Reporter

Drunken and reckless driving is becoming common

Thiruvananthapuram: Drunken and reckless driving is becoming a common feature on city roads at night. With the Christmas-New Year season here, young revellers often take to the road in cars equipped with extra lights and powerful sound systems. Some of the cars have colourful lights fitted under the floorboard and illuminated registration number plates, accessories which are not sanctioned by law on the ground that such frills distract other motorists.

The favourite stretches for speedsters include the Museum-Vellayambalam-Kowdiar road, All Saints-Shanghumughom and Kazhakuttam-Kovalam National Highway bypass.

Traffic experts have also expressed their reservations about car audio systems equipped with `boom-boxes,' powerful sub-woofers which increase the bass output.

A section of young motorists take a special thrill in zooming through the city at night with `boom-boxes' in full blast. In most cases, the thump of the heavy bass music can be heard well before the vehicle is actually sighted, an unnerving experience for pedestrians and also families huddled on two-wheelers.

Families returning after late night movies often run into the particular category of reckless drivers the police choose to describe as "speed fiends." Many zigzag through the empty roads at high speeds and in an inebriated condition. Those on motorbikes get a kick executing `wheelies,' the practice of causing the front wheel of the motorbike to lift off the ground by sudden acceleration.

Last Onam, two night-time revellers on a motorbike died in a gruesome accident involving a mini-van near Vellayambalam.

A study by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre points out that 25 per cent of the accidents reported in the city occur at night.

Drunken and reckless driving, speeding, failure to dim headlights at oncoming vehicles, driver fatigue, poor road conditions, lack of reflectors on speed breakers and medians, ill-lit traffic junctions and haphazardly parked vehicles were some of the main accident causing factors.

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