Cops to rope in CRRI for fresh study on Delhi's 'killer spots'

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/delhi/report-cops-to-rope-in-crri-for-fresh-stud...

Department identifies 50 such places in the Capital where three or more fatal accidents or 10 or more non-fatal accidents occur ever year.

Alarmed by the high incidence of fatalities on the same spots on roads every year, the Delhi Traffic Police plan to get a fresh study of "killer spots" conducted this year. The police will ask the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) to study these spots and suggest corrective measures in order to reduce the number of accidents taking place on these stretches.

So far, the police have identified nearly 50 such 'black spots' — places where three or more fatal accidents or 10 or more non-fatal accidents occur ever year — in the Capital.

Most of these spots are around flyovers, at major intersections and on wide roads. According to the data available with the police, the top spots include Mahipalpur flyover, NH-8, Sanjay T-point near Aerocity, Dhaula Kuan road, Kashmere Gate ISBT, Nigam Bodh Ghat, Punjabi Bagh Chowk, Britannia Chowk, and Sarai Kale Khan.

"We have identified over 50 accident-prone spots. Of these, at least 10 have been found to remain the same over the years, resulting in more than three fatal accidents every year. For instance, the eight-lane Dhaula Kuan road has frequent accidents, as motorists tend to over-speed and lose control over vehicles. More pedestrian deaths have been reported on such stretches," a senior officer said.

The pedestrians attempting to cross the eight-lane road have higher chances of being hit by speeding vehicles. While road design is one of the aspects, which could be rectified with engineering, others are speeding and changing lanes without giving indicators, he added.

Also, lane violation by heavy duty commercial vehicles has contributed to a number of fatalities. "Trucks and other commercial vehicles, such as buses and Gramin Sewas, do not stick to lanes. Heavy vehicles must ply on the leftmost side of the road. Merging of these vehicles with light-weight vehicles in the traffic movement increases the risk of accidents," the officer said.

Last year, the traffic police had written to the Transport Department to take action against the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) drivers who repeatedly violated the lane discipline. The department now plans to conduct regular drives to check lane violation and over-speeding.

"Most accidents have been reported to occur between 11 pm and 4 am. The early hours are the most important when drivers often tend to over-speed, thinking that the road is a freeway," he said.

Walk with caution

Traffic police's annual report on road accidents states that the number of pedestrians killed in road accidents in 2016 was higher that the other road users.

Report says pedestrians accounted for 42% of total deaths on city roads in 2016.

A total of 6,830 accidents occurred last year, in which 1,415 persons were killed. Of them, 600 were pedestrians while 550 were two-wheeler riders.

In 2015, of the total 1,622 persons killed, 684 were pedestrians.