Kochi tops in bike mishaps

Kochi: The accident involving a new generation bike that killed two persons at Vaduthala here on Saturday night calls for strict action by law and enforcement authorities against speeding of bikes and their reckless usage by youths along the narrow roads. Kochi tops the list in mishaps involving two-wheeler riders, especially those happening at night. As per the latest figures provided by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Ernakulam district recorded a total of 2,935 mishaps involving two-wheelers in the first six months this year followed by Thiruvananthapuram (2,467).

In the case of accidents happening at night, the district again recorded the maximum with a figure of 989, closely followed by Thiruvananthapuram (911). “The bike mishaps have almost doubled in the last five years. While it was 3,761 for the entire year in 2010, the six-month figure this year is already close to 3,000,” said a senior NATPAC official. Ernakulam district also tops the chart of total mishaps with 3,714 in the first six months followed by Thiruvananthapuram (3,220) and Thrissur (2,501). While 321 people died in Ernakulam during this period, 310 died in Thiruvananthapuram and 266 in Thrissur.

The annual figures for last year were 5,052 (Ernakulam), 4,280 (Thiruvananthapuram) and 3,634 (Thrissur). An assessment by the Kerala Road Safety Authority has found that the maximum number of accident-prone stretches across the state is in Ernakulam (33). Places which have a history of at least three major accidents in a year have come under the category of black spots.

The NATPAC is involved in a mission to find out black spots in Ernakulam and to take corrective measures. “First we'll identify the black spot locations through in-depth analysis of accident data, then give prioritisation for rectification of hazardous locations through scientific methods on Geographic Information System (GIS) and finally visualise accident spots on maps,” the official said.