Hyderabad: Fatal road accidents decreased by 23 per cent in Hyderabad this year compared with 2016. Eighty-five accident-prone sites, which were rectified by removing the bottlenecks and repairing roads, brought down the accident rate, said the Hyderabad traffic police. Re-engineering of junctions and certain stretches of road has helped increase the average speed to 21 kmph and made driving safer.
This average speed of 21 kmph is the highest travelling speed in metro cities in the country, senior traffic officials said. Dr V. Ravinder, joint traffic commissioner Hyderabad, said, “Our teams in collaboration with the GHMC widened roads of bottlenecks and repaired battered roads due to which black spots have come down to 75 from 85 last year. We are aiming for zero accidents in Hyderabad city in the coming years.’’ Pedestrian accidents were also less this year, a fall by 30 per cent against the previous year. Installation of pelican/pedestrian signals and pedestrian platforms with bollards at junctions and new overbridges helped reduce pedestrian accidents.
There were 405 road accident deaths in the city in 2016. This year, there are 285 deaths (up to November 2017), which has made a difference, said L.S. Chauhan, DCP traffic. Pedestrian deaths came down to 125 this year from 179 in 2016. In 2014, 183 pedestrians died and 171 pedestrian deaths occurred in 2015, he added.
Penalty point system to reduce traffic offences
The penalty point system which was implemented on August 1 this year will show positive results in 2018, according to senior traffic police officials. The rules state that a driver will lose the licence if she/he accumulates 12 points in a year. As many as 126 drivers have reached the limit in five months. If they continue to violate the rules they will soon lose the licence. Traffic officers say drivers will be more mindful of the rules if they begin to fear that they will lose their licence. Issuance of driving licence has increased by 25 per cent after the implementation of the penalty point system.
One person from Cyberabad has accumulated 10 points and another nine points. So far, 2,90,821 persons in the twin-cities have accumulated the points. More than 888 people have above 5 points, 126 people have more than 6 points, 34 have more than 7 points, and 13 people have 8 points.
Maximum points were accumulated for driving without helmet — 2,70,700. A.V. Ranganath, DCP traffic, said, “The penalty point system will surely bring in a change in the coming year as many of the violators are on the edge of losing their driving licences. Though there are repeat violators, a change will be observed once they start losing their driving licences.”
Kanumala Vinod Kumar, founder of the Indian Federation of Road Safety, said, “This is a good move. For commercial drivers and marketing guys, losing their licence will affect their livelihood so people will be more cautious. But again, it’s all about enforcement, about how they implement the penalty point system without any partiality for department officials and politicians.”
