CHENNAI: Year after year, Tamil Nadu has been earning a dubious distinction. It invariably records the highest number of people losing their lives in road accidents among the Indian states. In 2017 alone, over 15,000 people were killed in the State in road accidents and the number of people maimed is much higher. This is clearly many times more than the toll taken by any of the major calamities. But road safety as a public issue rarely gets the attention it deserves, though, silently, a team of bureaucrats from different departments are working on reducing accidents by addressing one of the main reasons: black spots.
A black spot is a road stretch where repeated accidents happen, mostly due to flaws in road design and other infrastructural issues. Even a simple solution, like constructing a road median, could avoid the repeat of similar accidents and save many lives. For example, the East Coast Road, known for its beaches and resorts, recorded 48 fatal accidents till October this year.
Of this, 27 people who were killed, were pedestrians. “When we analyzed, we found that there were four TASMAC liquor shops near a black spot. The height of the road median was also very low,” said P Swaminathan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic (South), Chennai. As the median height was very low, pedestrians tended to cross over it and at times, speeding vehicles on the road hit them. “When we enquired with the drivers about such accidents, they say they can’t drive at lower speeds on a road they feel is an expressway,” Swaminathan says.
Recently, the State Traffic and Road Safety Cell and IIT-Madras, studied the patterns of road accidents using available data across 11 districts for 2016 and 2017 and identified a total of 190 black spots along highways. “From identifying black spots, the reasons for the repeated accidents and rectifying them, the entire process is a challenge,” says a senior police officer, who is part of the project.
Not surprisingly, officials found that the Kancheepuram district, which connects Chennai with much of the rest of the State, has the most number of black spots — 48 out of 190 — which is a little more than one-fourth. Out of the 48 black spots identified in Kancheepuram district, 42 have been “rectified”, say officials. In Villupuram district, 13 black spots were identified and of them, six were “rectified”. “Most of the black spots in Villupuram were road junctions. We installed adequate lighting, signage, and built medians. This has now brought down the number of accidents,” the officer says.
A separate analysis within Chennai city threw up as many as 87 black spots. The Senthil Nagar junction on the 200 Feet Road at Ambattur topped the list. A total of five fatal accidents were recorded in the stretch between 2016 and 2017. The reasons why repeated accidents happen in places such as this are being studied and rectified. The solutions are categorized by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) as ‘short-’, ‘medium-’ and ‘long-term’. Short and medium-term measures include putting up rumble strips, reflective stickers at junctions, fixing signboards/ the cautionary boards, providing signage and speed restrictions. Long-term measures would be building a vehicular underpass, by-passes, flyovers, and widening of the road.
Officials say implementation of 90 per cent of the short and medium-term solutions are complete and long-term solutions would be taken up by the National Highways Authorities of India in future. “We have also given a recommendation to the highways department to identify curves along highways across the State that can be straightened. A survey is being taken,” said V Balan, Joint Commissioner, Transport (Rules).
The Transport Department is taking the lead in coordinating with other departments like the police, highways and local administration and officials are addressing the infrastructural issues that can prevent road accidents. But a senior police officer pointed out that not just the roads, road behavior and driving habits of the drivers play a much major role in making our roads safe.
Numbers game
11,830 km: The total length of State Highways in Tamil Nadu
5,324 km: Length of National Highways
3,285 km: Length of highways maintained by National Highways Authority of India
2,039 km: Maintained by National Highways wing of the State Highways dept
What is a black spot
As per the norms of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a black spot is a road stretch for 500 meters along which five road accidents, involving fatalities and grievous injuries, have been reported in the last three years or 10 fatalities in the last three years