VIJAYAWADA: Faulty road engineering, bad designs and lack of signage boards to restrict speed limit on various roads are the major reasons for the rise in the number of road accidents in Krishna district, as per a study conducted by Transport department officials and road safety experts on NHs and state highways passing through the district.
As per the information provided by department, a total of 1,951 people were killed in road accidents across Krishna in the last three years (since 2018). As many as 1,380 road accidents were reported and 2,422 injured in 2018. About 2,458 accidents occurred during 2019. Of these, 702 persons lost their lives and 2,704 were injured. Last year, the district reported 1,846 accidents claiming the lives of 570 people and inuring 1,846.
The study also revealed that lack of signage boards to restrict speed near 150 black spots identified in the district is also one of the reasons for the occurrence of road mishaps in the district. Of the total, 100 black spots in Vijayawada Police Commissionerate limits and the remaining 50 are under Krishna police limits. Around 20 lakh vehicles—three lakh are in Vijayawada alone—ply on NH-65, 16, 216, 165 and 30 and seven State highways in the district.
For instance, 64 road mishaps were reported between Tadipada-Ganguru stretch, where 22 were killed and 43 injured in 2020 along Vijayawada-Machilipatnam national highway. Similarly, 437 road mishaps were reported between Ramavarappadu-Hanuman Junction in which 103 persons were killed and 60 injured on Chennai-Kolkata NH stretch. The experts also suggested the authorities to develop service roads on Vijayawada-Machilipatnam NH and Chennai- Kolkata NH after Ramavarrapadu to ease traffic congestion
and reduce the road mishap fatalities.
DTC M Purendra told TNIE that road engineering is crucial for reducing road mishaps in the district, despite awareness campaigns and enforcement drives carried out with the help of the police, the district administration and NH authorities. In all, the district has a total of 150 black spots, where rectification needs to be done by the authorities concerned as per the Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms for verifying the length and width of the medians, traffic signals and cat’s eyes on roads, he said.
About 22 black spots have been identified on roads in Machilipatnam and Gudivada and the State government has given directions to the department to make use of `6 crore from Road Safety Fund to conduct rectification near the black spots. Works in this regard will commence shortly. “We will rectify the other black spots identified in the district in a phased manner and submit the proposals to the State Road Safety Council seeking the funds,” the DTC said.