Ongole: Road mishaps snuff out 471 lives in 5 mnths on NHs of Prakasam

Ongole: The Prakasam District Road Safety Committee chairman and Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy advised officials to prepare reports by identifying the accident-prone areas on the national highways and marking them as the black spots.

He assured to take the issues concerning the implementation of road safety to the notice of the Union government.

The district-level road safety committee meeting was held at the Collectorate under the chairmanship of the Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy on Tuesday.

Speaking at the meeting, Srinivasulu Reddy said that it is saddening to see the death rate is high in the accidents on the national highways and advised the officials to work with coordination to reduce the number of accidents. He said that 1,087 accidents occurred in the district in the last five months and inquired about the reasons for the 471 deaths on the national highways.

He said that the drivers are speeding their vehicles on the highways, and involving in the accidents. He advised the officials to conduct drunk-n-drive tests, implement the strict rules from the Union government including the autos not allowed on national highways. He asked them to repair the Ongole-Podili road immediately.

Collector, Pravin Kumar ordered the officials to conduct an audit on the accidents that occurred on the national and State highways and to prepare an analytical report. He said that the Transport department has identified 90 black spots, while the R&B department marked 30 black spots and the Police department marked 55 black spots on the highways in the district.

He ordered the officials to create awareness among the residents of 40 villagers, erect high mast lights at 21 places and allocate the electrification responsibility at black spots to the local bodies. He ordered to serve notices to the highways officials who were absent at the meeting.

SP Mallika Garg said that as part of the road safety measures, the department is observing every Saturday as Zero Accidents Day. She said that many accidents are occurring at the turnings and informed that warning signs should be placed at 48 places on the highways in the district. She observed that overcrowding is one of the reasons for fatalities in the accidents and said that they are creating awareness on road safety to the drivers including bike riders.

Ongole Mayor Gangada Sujatha, Joint Collector K Krishnaveni, Additional SP B Ravichandra, DTTC B Krishnaveni, RTC RM Vijaya Geetha and others also participated in the meeting.