The death of six-year-old Christina Jose, a native of Mulamkuzhi, after being hit by a speeding bike on Monday night attests to the rising number of fatal mishaps caused by two-wheelers in the city.
The data collected by ‘City Express’ from Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram revealed that bikes were turning out to be more dangerous than even buses, as 34 persons were killed in two-wheeler accidents in Kochi from January to November 11 this year.
According to the data, 95 per cent of two-wheeler mishaps was caused by 100 cc, 150 cc and 200 cc bikes in the city. Only 21 cases of accidents involving ‘Superbikes’ with engine capacity of above 500 cc were reported. As per the data received from Police Headquarters, 1,902 accident cases were reported in Traffic East having a jurisdiction from Kalamassery to Tripunithura and Traffic West station that covers the area from Container Road to Fort Kochi.
Of this, 645 cases involved two-wheelers. As many as 387 cases at Traffic East and 258 cases at Traffic West stations were registered against two-wheeler riders and 90 per cent of the accidents were due to racing. A total of 117 people died in road accidents in Kochi so far this year, with 79 road accident deaths reported in Traffic East limit and 38 deaths at Traffic West. Of this, 34 deaths - 13 registered at Traffic East station and 21, at Traffic West Station, involved two-wheelers. As many as 576 persons were injured in the two-wheeler accidents cases this year, with the majority of victims being pedestrians and pillion riders.
The highest number of accidents were reported from NH Bypass road, Seaport-Airport road and Thevara road. “Speed riding by youth was the cause of the majority of bike mishaps, not only superbikes but also normal bikes in the 150 cc and 200 cc category. On main roads, bikes can be ridden at a maximum speed of 70 km.
On bylanes, the speed has to be controlled at 40 km. But the youth are found to ride bikes even at speeds of 90 km on bylanes causing a threat to the public,” a police official said.
The police patrolling team have been instructed to check the new generation bikes and register cases against those resorting to speeding. “The new generation bikes are being checked by the police after the recent bike accident in Panampilly Nagar which claimed a life. Measures will be introduced to curb speeding by youth,” he said.