ACCIDENT RATE DIPS

ACCIDENT RATE DIPS
Better Traffic Management Made It Happen, Says Sood
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: For once, we hear something positive — a dip in the accident rate.
The first quarter of 2009 registered a sharp reduction in fatal accidents in the city, as compared to 2007 and 2008. This despite bringing in accident-prone areas up to Devanahalli into the jurisdiction of the Bangalore city police.
According to an analysis conducted by the traffic police, January, February and March 2009 saw 176 fatal accidents, whereas in 2008 and 2007, 864 cases and 957 cases were registered respectively. On an average, a decline of more than 15% in the first quarter. Of 176 fatal accidents, 18 involved BMTC buses, 4 KSRTC, 9
private buses and 25 lorries. How did this happen? An excited additional commissioner of police (traffic), Praveen Sood says: “We have concentrated more on offences like signal jumping, overspeeding and drunken driving, which has resulted in few fatal accidents.’’
ON THE ROAD
The number of interceptors is being increased to eight. Almost 50% of fines comes from technology-driven initiatives. Bangalore city traffic police plans to enhance it to 80% by reducing manual enforcement. During this time, 31,129 vehicles were towed away for parking in the wrong areas.
What are the initiatives that have clicked? Diversion of lorries from Hosur road - NICE Road - towards Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road and Tumkur Road has helped reduction in accidents involving lorries.
“Effective segregation of traffic through medians constructed by BBMP has also reduced head-on collisions and improved road user discipline. Strict enforcement of 80 kmph speed limit on the road to International Airport has drastically reduced accidents in that sector,’’ Sood added.
PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY
Pedestrian-friendly initiatives include pelican lights and deployment of Home Guards to assist kids cross roads. “Around 500 solar-operated blinkers have also been added in the last couple of months to warn road users about turnings and sharp curves. Our motto has been ‘first safer and then faster’,’’ says Sood.
FINES IN KITTY
In first three months of 2009, around 5.14 lakh cases of traffic violations were booked, as against 19 lakh cases in 2008 and 13 lakh cases in 2007 Fines collected in January, February, March: Rs 7.19 cr; 2008: Rs 27.49 cr; 2007: Rs 19.30 cr 12,302 cases of speeding, 5,221 cases of drunken driving, 98,368 cases of signal jumping, 68,825 cases of wrong parking, 44,760 cases of helmetless driving and 12,039 cases of using mobile while driving Of total fine realisation, Rs 2.45 cr was through BlackBerry operation; Rs 37 lakh through deployment of three interceptors
WHAT NEXT?
In the coming months, special attention will be given to regulate pedestrian movement
Hosur Road beyond Madivala, Old Madras Road beyond KR Puram, Devanahalli Road beyond Hebbal and Mysore Road beyond BHEL junction will be given special attention