KOCHI: The motor vehicles department has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT) to rectify the faults at road stretches designated as black spots in the state.
In the exercise that began two weeks ago, the GIS-based data of the black spots and the engineering solutions developed by the IIT’s Centre for Excellence in Road Safety is being used to study and correct hazardous black spots in six districts — Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Thrissur, and Kollam.
Scientific measures to reduce accidents on such stretches will be implemented soon, Transport Commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam said.
“These are the top priority districts in the state, which fall in the top hundred across the country identified by IIT-M. The first objective is to bring the six districts out of the top 100 list within 2026. The rectification will be carried out with customised interventions. In some places, we may have to put more reflectors, while in some, more dividers and such customised interventions will be made,” Nagaraju said.
A black spot is a 500-metre road stretch that has witnessed five or more accidents within three years. Kerala has around 3,000 such identified black spots. According to the ‘Road Safety Action Plan for Kerala State (2025-2030)’, more than 2,200 km of road corridors, national highways (NH), and state highways in the state have been found “crash vulnerable”.