Uttara Kannada: 195 killed, 1541 injured in 882 accidents in 9 months
03:00PM Thu 14 Mar, 2019
Karwar: The Uttara Kannada District between May-2018 and January-2019 witnessed 195 deaths in road accidents. The number of injuries during the period is at whopping 1541 people sustaining injuries in about 882 accidents reported in the district.
In the statistics provided by Uttara Kannada Police, during May 2018 to January 2019, 882 road accidents have been reported in the District. This includes 163 fatal accidents reported in nine months.
The 163 fatal accidents have reportedly killed 195 people in the district. The number of injuries is at alarming high with over 1541 people sustaining injuries in all 882 accidents reported in the period of nine months.
Among the 1541 injuries 442 were reported to be grievous injuries while other 1099 injuries have been defined as ‘Minor injuries’.
Despite these numbers the traffic regulations in parts of District have remained unattended and are not paid heed to. At some places in the District including Bhatkal, where the number of vehicles on road is on constant growth over the years, and traffic congestion is one of the major issue for the administration, the police department has failed to regulate compulsory helmet laws for two-wheelers. At few places attempts by the department to regulate have been foiled by the locals by not showing any interest in such regulations even if it mean paying fines regularly.
Demands of Traffic signals by local residents at few places have gone unheard by the administration and the government authorities over the years.
Speaking to media Uttara Kannada Distrct SP Vinayak Patil said the department is committed towards bringing these numbers down and is taking measures to prevent the road mishaps.
He said “The department is committed to cap the numbers of road accidents in the district. We regularly follow up on accident spots and inspect if there was any way to prevent that particular accident. If we think something could have been done and accidents could have been prevented we immediately take required measures to ensure road safety”.
He further added that highway patrolling vehicles have also been added to the fleet of vehicles of the department in the District.
Speaking of helmet regulations in places like Bhatkal, where several attempts have been made to implement the compulsory helmet law but it didn’t run along for more than two months, the SP said “The department has made efforts of implementing helmet laws but due to other law and order commitments the constant follow-up is not possible”.
He stressed that the helmets are for the safety of riders and self regulation is more important than police enforcing it. “Helmets are for the safety of riders, so they should self regulate it. Fine collection is not why we want to implement those laws, it is for their own safety. So we appeal people to come together with us to make our roads safer by ensuring that we follow every traffic rule”.
Source: Vartha Bharathi