CHENNAI: Officials from six departments are working together to reduce road accident fatalities in Chennai, and 104 accident hotspots have been identified, Police Commissioner (CoP) Shankar Jiwal said on Thursday.
Chennai witnesses the most accidents among Indian cities, and ranks second in terms of fatalities, as per data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Last year, the city saw 5,034 accidents and 998 deaths.
Jiwal told the media a special task force which might turn into a road safety authority has been formed. “We identified 104 spots where accidents occur frequently. Officials from six departments worked to identify the causes of accidents.” Among those involved were corporation officials, highway department engineers, traffic police personnel, and IIT professors.
Jiwal said the number of accidents this year has reduced by 20 per cent (till August 31) compared to last year, due to targeted enforcement drives. He inaugurated an office for the Traffic Warden Organisation in the CoP office campus along with Kapil Kumar C Saratkar, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic.
The wardens are drawn from fields such as engineering, medicine, and education, and are appointed by the CoP. They regulate traffic and ensure road discipline at various junctions on weekends. The Traffic Warden Organisation is headed by chief traffic warden M Harish Metha.
To a query on college students creating a ruckus on roads, Jiwal said the police are remanding college students under the Arms Act. “Earlier, we took a soft approach of counselling them and informing their parents. But they kept wielding weapons, so we are coming down heavily on them,” said Jiwal.
To a question on criticism over the number of murders in Chennai, Jiwal said all such offences can’t be prevented in an urban area. “However, the number of murder cases reduced by 20% this year (till August 31) compared to last year,” he added.
Elderly man hacked to death in Tiruvallur
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Man pushes partner down from second floor
What was supposed to be a birthday surprise left a 26-year-old hospitalised after she was allegedly pushed off the second floor of an apartm-ent in KK Nagar on Thursday. Her boyfriend allegedly went to her house at 12.30 am, and found another man leaving the house. He then picked a quarrel with her, and pushed her down. The man has been arrested