‘AP eighth in road accidents’: CM Naidu orders third-party audits to find safety issues
CM Naidu expressed concern over the deaths of 6,433 people in 15,462 road accidents so far this year.
By Newsmeter Network
Amaravati: Taking a serious note of road accidents, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials to opt for third-party auditing of road accidents to know whether it is the lapse of the vehicle, the driver or faults in road works.
AP stands 8th in road accidents
Addressing the road safety council meeting at the secretariat on Wednesday, the CM Naidu expressed concern over the deaths of 6,433 people in 15,462 road accidents so far this year.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that one-third of the accidents related to two-wheelers, 53 per cent were self-accidents of cars and two-wheelers.
The state stands in eighth place in road accidents. The Chief Minister directed the officials to study the reasons for the high number of accidents in Nellore, Tirupati, Palnadu, Annamaiah and Kakinada districts.
Speeding is main culprit
Of the total accidents, 79 per cent occurred due to speeding, 3 per cent due to wrong side driving and one per cent of accidents due to the usage of mobile phones while driving. Of them, 42 per cent of accidents occurred on national highways and 21 per cent of accidents on state highways.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to arrange speed governors as per the rules. He suggested the arrangement of CC cameras every half kilometre on both national and state highways. As per the Supreme Court committee guidelines, steps should be taken to prevent accidents.
Identify high-risk zones on highways
Modern driving training centres should be set up, including at Adoni and Darsi. He asked the officials to set right the black spots (high-risk zones) identified at 680 places on national highways.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to act tough on unauthorised alteration of sleeper buses, which are paving the way for accidents. He said a study should be conducted on the registration of buses in eastern states, and the Centre should be notified about it.
He asked the officials to warn those who violate the rules to bring awareness among vehicle users. He said automated testing centres should be set up to test the fitness of vehicles. He said state and district-level road safety programmes should be organised on the third Sunday of every month. The Chief Minister suggested cooperation of the police, transport and engineering departments to prevent road accidents.
