Prakasam district sees 40 road mishap deaths in last six months

Despite several measures being taken by the authorities, there has been no let-up in road accidents in Prakasam district. 
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

ONGOLE: Despite several measures being taken by the authorities, there has been no let-up in road accidents in Prakasam district. Only in August, 13 persons were killed in road accidents, which mostly took place on national highways. 

Two persons were killed on August 8. Six of a family lost their lives the next day in an accident on NH-16 near Mocharla village in Gudluru Mandal. On August 15, four persons died in different mishaps. In July, four of a family were victims of a major accident that occurred near Gullapalli flyover (under Maddipadu PS limits).

Over the last six months, around 40 lives from the district were lost in road accidents. In particular, the National Highway- 16 stretch between Gudluru and Vulavapadu Mandals limits has become a danger zone, with high rate of accidents being reported from there. In the last six months, this area alone has claimed more than 20 lives.

In 2017, 517 persons were killed and 1,839 persons were injured in 1,362 accidents. Similarly, 460 out of 1,387 accidents reported in 2018 were identified as fatal, which killed 482 persons and injured 1,770 more. In the current year (till July end), 905 accidents were reported in the district and 366 of them were defined as fatal. 

The total length of state and national highways in the district is around 1,350 km. The NH- 216, from Kathipudi in East Godavari district to Ongole, covers a stretch of 456 km along the sea coast covering West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. The national highways have become a big threat to the commuters as most of the accidents are reported on them. Recently, Prakasam Superintendent of Police (SP) Siddhartha Koushal conducted a review meeting and directed all the concerned traffic police heads and police station officials to take necessary action to reduce the rate of accidents.

“To reduce the accidents on national highways, we are going to take the support of NHAI authorities as well as local police staff. We are going to implement the NH travel code strictly by not allowing large transport vehicles to park on roadsides in national highways; there would be thorough checks for drunken driving; proper rest for long-distance goods vehicle drivers would be ensured,” Venugopala Rao, Traffic DSP- Ongole told TNIE.

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