Ernakulam tops in road accidents in Kerala

KOCHI: Ernakulam tops among districts in Kerala contributing major share of road trafic accidents, according to statistics available with statepolice.whilethedistrictoutshines all others in the number of accidents, mostnumberofdeathsduetoaccidents were reported in Trivandrum.

Within eight months, 292 persons died in 3707 accidents in Ernakulam district with 1448 accidents reported in the city and 2259 in rural areas. Trivandrum came second in the list with second highest number of accidents. There were 3664 accidents in Trivandrum and 336 persons lost life of which 123 deaths occurred in the city and 213 in the rural.

An assessment by the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) had spotted 33 accident-prone stretches in Ernakulam district. National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) identiied 75 black spots (places with a history of at least three major accidents in a year) in the district, of which a majority fell within the Kochi city limits. Kochi police intend to install speed cameras and radars at all crucial locations, in an effort to effectively check the menaces of rash driving and rule violations in late-night hours.

Wayanad district was placed at the bottom of the list with lowest number of accidents and lowest number of deaths. Only 388 accidents and 32 deaths were reported from the hilly district of Wayanad.

According to statistics, Kerala witnessed 2632 deaths from 25,628 road accidents within eight months. An average of 11 deaths were reported a day in road mishaps. In most of the accidents, two wheelers and private buses were involved.

About 7293 persons were killed in 55,217 accidents caused by private buses during the last 10 years. The race between buses was the major reason behind accidents. In 15,226 accidents caused by KSRTC buses, 2635 were killed during the same period.

NATPAC oficials said that the number of night accidents are steadily increasing. Though only 10-15 per cent vehicles travel at night, they cause about 25 per cent of accidents, according to studies in the past.

Around 75 per cent of accidents involved two-wheelers, and the reasons attributed are rash and negligent driving, while there were also instances of drivers dozing off, leading to collisions, say city trafic police.