[1]Hyderabad: Hundreds of people die every day across the state, but road accidents are probably the most avoidable means of death. Statistics suggest that road accidents claim about 41 lives each day in the state and many more are injured.
The gravity of issue is reflected in the numbers which say that the state had the third highest number of road accidents and deaths due to these accidents in 2012.
Terrorist strikes, violent crimes and natural calamities lead to deaths in large numbers, but the extent of damage caused by the negligence of drivers on the roads has remained invisible. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were 39,344 road accidents in the state which resulted in the death of 14,966 persons.
Another point of concern is that while 8.9 per cent of all accidents in the country occur in the state, the percentage of all deaths is higher at 10.8 per cent. Statistics also reveal that most accidental deaths involve people travelling in three-wheelers.
More than 25 per cent of accidents deaths involving passengers of autorickshaws throughout the country are in Andhra Pradesh. About 1,734 persons died in road accidents involving autorickshaws and the state has the highest number of such deaths in the country. Uttar Pradesh is next with less than a thousand deaths involving autorickshaws.
Transport officials also admit that overloading of autorickshaws leads to many accidental deaths, but they have been found little success in curbing the menace. They say that much of the problem lies with people who board these autorickshaws desp-ite finding them already overloaded. But in most cases, no action is initiated against these auto drivers.
ORR records most road accidents
Cyril Romeo
Hyderabad: The number of accidents in the city has been going down over the years, but alarmingly, the death rate in road accidents is going up each year. The Outer Ring Road is a black spot for accidents with major accidents being reported from there over the last month. About 50 accidents are reported here each year.
Strict measures taken up by traffic police to curb accidents have proved effective in reducing the rate of accidents in the recent years. A watch on drunken driving has also worked in reducing the number of accidents but not the number of deaths.
Ever since the Outer Ring Road has been inaugurated, the city has witnessed many road accidents and deaths on the 158 kilometer stretch.
There were many accidents including those of children of celebrities like Mohd. Azaru-ddin, former cricketer, Kota Srinivas Rao, cine actor. The recent fatality was that of former minister Komatreddy Venkat Reddy’s son Prateek Reddy.
Earlier, state government had a review meeting with higher police officials on the issue with the then home minister P. Sabita Indira Reddy. After the meeting, government had imposed a ban on two wheelers on the ORR.
There was a decision to set up some police out-posts on the entire 158-kilometre stretch of the ORR, as also speed guns and patrolling vehicles, but one can hardly find these.
Recently, in the past fortnight, there have been three major road accidents reported on the ORR. All three are accidents of four wheelers, in which two victims were burnt to death. In one incident, a businessman from Tamil Nadu was roasted to death in his car, when it fell down from 30 feet.
On Thursday night, a family returning from Vijayawada met with an accident near Rallaguda, Shamshabad. The victims who sustained injuries were shifted to a hospital.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/accidents-law100jpg-510