BELAGAVI: Creating a positive road safety trend by the special efforts of Belagavi police has yielded very good results as the city has witnessed a remarkable decline in the fatal road accidents deaths in 2023. The fatalities have reduced by 12.5% while the number of deaths in road accidents have declined to 18.5% compared to the previous year.
The data shared by the Belagavi police have shown that the decrease in road accidents and casualities in the year 2023 compared to the previous two years was a positive sign.
In the year 2021, out of 424 accidents, 109 were fatalities whereas 2022 witnessed a loss of 169 lives out of 565 accidents. Meanwhile, 2023 witnessed 556 accidents, resulting in 136 casualities.
Belagavi, one of the fast-growing city of state was facing many traffic issues due the lack of parking spaces, excessive commercial usage of building basements which were meant for vehicle parking as per the law, illegal occupying of road side patches and pedestrian footpaths by vendors, etc.
Though all the issues have not been rectified, the traffic police wing of Belagavi city has tried to discipline the traffic movement under the guidance of Police Commissioner SN Sidramappa.
After taking charge in July, 2023, Sidramappa started travelling around the Belagavi to study the issues on ground. The traffic police wing came into a high alert mode after he made surprise visits at different roads in the city.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Police Commissioner SN Sidramappa said, "We have implemented strict measures to discipline the traffic movement in the city. Many junctions were improved including barricading, streamlining the parking, clearing the smart city debris beside the roads, and heavy vehicle restrictions inside the city have helped us in reducing the accidents."
"Besides awareness about the road safety at colleges, walkathon, counselling for drivers in drunk and drive cases were created in more numbers. The public feedback and complaints made on social media are also actively attended," he added.