The report on 'Road Safety Analysis and Identification of Accident Black Spots' prepared under Tandrust Punjab Mission has prompted the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to initiate immediate remedial measures on twenty highly accident-prone spots in the state.
According to KS Pannu, Director, Tandrust Punjab Mission, the report was jointly prepared by the Project Punjab Vision Zero Accident team and the Traffic Wing of Punjab Police under the Tandrust Punjab Mission.
Pannu said: "According to Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, road accident blackspot on the National Highways is a road stretch of about 500m in length in which either five road accidents (involving fatalities/grievous injuries) took place during last three calendar years or 10 fatalities took place during last three calendar years."
He also said, in a press release, that the detailed road accident analysis revealed that a total of 92 accidental black spots existed on the 175km long stretch of NH-44 falling in Punjab.
"Based upon the last three years (2016-2018) road accidental cases reported, a total 880 people lost their lives, 525 got seriously injured, and 183 got minor injuries in 1,077 cases registered on the entire stretch of the NH-44 within the state of Punjab," Pannu said.
He added that out of total 880 road accidental deaths, 644 accidental deaths (73 per cent) were reported on these 92 accidental black spots falling on NH-44.
"This analysis reveals that about 40 km of the road stretch out of entire 175km length of NH-44 has some serious geometric design errors and requires immediate geometric improvement, especially in the areas where NH-44 crosses urban limits," said Pannu.
He also informed that as per data, the total cost of social-economic loss occurred in Punjab due to various road accidents on NH-44 amounts to Rs 933 crore for the past three years, i.e., Rs 85 lakh per day.
"This called for immediate flagging of the issue to the NHAI. Based on the state feedback, NHAI prioritised the black spots according to the number of fatalities reported and has commenced the remedial work on the identified spots by inviting the tenders for the rectification work," Pannu said.
Adding that the elimination or minimisation of black spots is targeted under Tandrust Punjab Mission, Pannu said: "We will seriously, systematically and continuously carry out the work of identifying and rectifying the road accident blackspots and will also monitor the effectiveness of remedial measures for the black spots."
( With inputs from ANI )