Hyderabad: According to the Hyderabad Traffic Police, there has been a decline in the number of road accidents occurring in the city this year as compared to last year.
As of September, 232 fatal accidents occurred in the city this year, whereas 314 occurred within the same period last year. The Joint Traffic Commissioner says this reduction is the result of precautionary measures imp-lemented by the traffic police and the GHMC.
The display of prominent safety signage, the use of speed guns, the correction of medians at various junctions, the construction of refuge islands, installation of pelican signals and an increase in the use of safety gears while driving, have helped reduce the number of accidents. Implementation of the penalty point system has also had a major role to play in this.
The traffic police has identified 37 new black spots within the limits of Hyderabad city. This includes junctions such as those at Tivoli Secunderabad, HPS Begumpet, Road No. 12 Banjara Hills, Road No. 1, and the Tadbund area. Seven GHMC engineers and local traffic inspectors have been involved in the implementation of measures to curb accidents at these locations.
Dr V. Ravinder, the Joint Traffic Commi-ssioner, says, “We have identified 37 new black spots within the city and are taking precautionary measures, in coordination with the GHMC, to prevent accidents at these junctions. Members of our team and the GHMC engineers visit each black spot to inspect it and recommend measures that can be implemented to avoid accidents. We have successfully reduced the number of road accidents by 83 as of September this year, as compared to last year.”
He adds that the penalty point system has been yielding good results. “The use of helmets and seat belts has increased tremendously since the implementation of the penalty system. Road discipline has also improved and incidents of signal jumping have reduced. Penalty points have brought about a good change among the citizens of Hyderabad and led to a reduction in the number of road accidents. We hope that by next year we will be able to reduce further.
