Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Decline in road accident deaths in capital

Thiruvananthapuram: Crackdown by the police and Motor Vehicles Department on erring motorist and tough enforcement measures have helped in bringing down the number of road accident deaths in the capital in the first 11 months of 2007 compared to the previous year.

The capital city witnessed 132 deaths in road accidents during the first 11 months ending on November 30 compared to the 165 deaths in 2006. With another 20 days left for the New Year, traffic officials say the fatal cases in road accidents will not surpass last year’s toll.

Road accident statistics compiled by the traffic wing also reveal that the number of accidents and injuries in road accidents is on the decline in the capital. Compared to the 2,036 road accidents that took place in the city during the 12 months of 2006, only 1,727 accidents were reported till November 22 this year. The number of road accident cases that took place in the capital was 2,044 during 2005.

While 1,985 persons were injured in road accidents in the city in 2006, only 1,871 sustained injuries till October 15. However, the concern is on the mounting number of cases that are being registered in the north and south sub-divisions of the traffic police station.

The number of cases registered in the traffic wing has mounted from 3,028 in 2006 to 3,245 till November this year. Traffic officials attribute this to registering of cases under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act (drunken driving). In 2006, only 1,003 cases were registered under this section by the traffic wing. But, 1,509 cases had been registered till November this year for drunken driving.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic (South), P. Mohanan Nair, claims that the tough enforcement measures with limited resources and manpower had helped in bringing down the number of deaths in road accidents in the city. Awareness programme launched by the traffic wing had also started paying the dividends.

The tough enforcement measures also reflected in the penalty collected from the erring motorists. The traffic wing had collected a record Rs.62,73,400 as penalty from erring motorists during the first 11 months this year. The petty cases registered were mainly for speeding, overtaking through the left side, jumping of traffic signal, taking ‘U’ turns in the main road, violating one-way rules, not wearing helmet and seat belts and use of mobile phones.

Usage of mobile phone while driving attracts Rs.1,000 as penalty.

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