THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A total of 15,881 road crashes were reported in Thiruvananthapuram district between 2016 and 2018. There was a 5.3 per cent increase in the total number of accident deaths reported last year as compared to 2018. With figures looking abysmally grim, authorities seem to have finally woken up to mitigate the blood bath on the roads. In an attempt to make effective interventions at accident-prone locations in the state capital, the National Transportation, Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) will launch a detailed topographic traffic survey of 12 priority accident black spots in the city this week.
The state government has constituted a team comprising officials from the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD), Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), Public Works Department (PWD) and the police to carry out inspections at all identified black spots. In Thiruvananthapuram, NATPAC has prioritised a total of 16 major crash sites, out of which 12 are within the city limits and four in the outskirts. Principal scientist Shaheem S, who is leading the study, said the survey will be launched this week.
“Normally, a 500-metre radius around the crash site is considered the black spot but we have decided to carry out the survey covering 1kilometre. The study will focus on all traffic parametres in the identified stretch including the volume of the traffic, pedestrian crossing and other significant details,” said Shaheem.
He said NATPAC is taking a novel approach this time by going through the FIRs filed for every accident that took place on these sites. “Our team will collate the FIRs of each accident to analyse the cause and come up with an effective traffic intervention prototype to counter recurring accidents. We will be giving our recommendations including an engineering solution that can be implemented at the black spots,” said Shaheem.
NATPAC would be giving the recommendations to the respective custodian of the road stretch.
“The study on four out of the twelve blackspots owned by the Kerala Road Fund Board would be taken up only after discussions with them,” the official said. NATPAC is gearing up to carry out field visit at other districts in the coming days. “We will be conducting site visits at Kollam district tomorrow,” Shaheem added.
mishaps at black spots in city (2016-2018)
Location Number of crashes Number of fatalities
East Fort Jn (KSRTC Depot Jn - Attakulangara Jn) 70 10
Overbridge Jn (Overbridge Jn - East Fort KSRTC Depot Jn) 67 10
Valiyathura (Valiyathura - Muttathara Road) 50 3
Vellayambalam (IT Mission - after South Indian Bank) 42 5
Manacaud (T’puram -Vizhinjam Road) 42 4
Vattiyoorkavu Jn ( Vattiyoorkavu Masjid - Thoppumukku Jn) 41 4
Mananthala Jn (Ranigiri Church - SBI) 41 2
Pettah Jn (Palayam Airport Road) 34 7
Vettukad (Veli - Shankumugham Road) 36 3
Poonthura Jn (Valiyathura - Bheemapally - Poonthura Road) 36 2
Paruthipara Jn (Panavila Jn to MG College Gateway) 32 4
Fire and Rescue, Chakkai (Veli- Perumathura Road) 29 6
Road accident victims in Thiruvananthapuram
2016 6,639
2017 6,237
2018 6,951