CHENNAI: In an exercise expected to help reduce road accidents, all highways, maintained by both national and state authorities, as well as major district roads (MDR) in Tamil Nadu, will be audited for road safety.
“All highways and MDR will be physically audited, in order to identify vulnerable spots by March next year. This will help in taking precautionary measures to prevent road accidents,” said Transport Commissioner Dayanand Kataria on Friday.
He was addressing a conference on road safety and vehicle emission regulations, organised by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in association with Transport Department, Government of Tamil Nadu.
This development assumes significance as the state leads in road accidents, resulting in 15,642 deaths, as per the National Crime Record Bureau data (2015).
Taking serious note of road deaths, in which buses belonging to state transport corporations have been involved, Kataria recalled that until June this year, 509 persons had lost their lives in such accidents.
In a significant moment, the senior bureaucrat analysed the recent collision of a TNSTC bus in Thanjavur. As many as 10 persons died in that incident. “Very often the negligence of drivers is cited, but in that case, there was overloading in the bus and 110 persons were on board as against the capacity of 56,” he said, adding that there was a case of extended working hours and demanding time chart, which may have led to over-speeding. “I have requested authorities concerned to look into the reason,” he said.
The Transport department has also set up a special cell, with representation from health, police and other stakeholders. This cell, which will analyse the reasons for road accidents and monitor the follow-up action, has been recommended by the Supreme Court committee on road safety.