‘Unscientific roads reason for mishaps’

‘Unscientific roads reason for mishaps’
Deccan Herald

Believe it or not, deaths due to accidents is 10 folds higher than murders in Karnataka.

This was revealed by Mr Ajay Kumar Singh, Inspector General of Police, Recruitment after inaugurating a two-day national conference on Traffic Engineering and Road Safety in India, ‘Problems and Prospects- Trafficon -04’ in Bangalore on Friday.

Mr Singh said that more then 5,000 people are killed in road accidents in the State every year as against 500 murders. Deaths due to accidents was 10 folds higher than murder, he said. He said, the compensation by different agencies amount paid every year in accident cases amounted to Rs 7,000 crore. Vehicular traffic can be regulated only with proper enforcement, engineering and education, he said.

Proper designing of roads, parking places and junctions would reduce the number of accidents in Bangalore. Traffic jams are due to improper and unscientific design of traffic junctions. Good road engineering designs can be enforced only when it is affordable, he added.

KSRTC Managing Director M R Sreenivasa Murthy, said the traffic problem in Bangalore can be addressed only by improving the public transport system. The stress on traffic due to private transport will decrease only when better quality public transport is ensured to the public, he said.

Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers, Chairman, Prof M N Srihari said, that Bangalore requires long term traffic management planning. One-ways, flyovers are not the solution to the traffic problem he said.