The City traffic police have roped in experts from the Thiruvananthapuram-based National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) to conduct a comprehensive study on traffic bottlenecks and accident-prone areas in Kochi to streamline traffic flow and reduce accidents.

The study will be on the lines of the one that NATPAC had done in Kozhikode city. “We have requested the agency to intensify its study which had lost steam due to the lockdown. This is because traffic snarls have worsened in Kochi owing to the phenomenal rise in the number of people venturing out in cars and two-wheelers following the COVID-19 scare. It has resulted in more number of vehicles jostling to occupy the available space,” said G. Poonguzhali, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, Law and Order).

An in-depth study to decongest the city and lessen accidents is important since the rise in the number of personalised vehicles is going to be the new normal. Roads must thus become rider / pedestrian-friendly, she added.

Risky U-turns

Earlier this year, the traffic police had initiated an exercise to identify unscientifically located U-turns which abound beneath the Kochi metro corridor and on several other busy, accident-prone stretches.

“Most U-turns were permitted without any rationale. They include newly introduced ones beneath the metro corridor. They end up causing accidents rather than preventing them. A few dangerous ones were closed following a spate of accidents at Kalamassery and Edappally.

“Similarly, metal barricades were erected on a 1-km stretch at Padamukal on Civil Line Road as motorists taking sudden U-turns were causing traffic hold-ups and accidents. Obstructive parking too is common on the stretch,” Ms. Poonguzhali said.

The police have also begun efforts to install reflectors on medians and allied road infrastructure to prevent vehicles crashing into them, especially at night. The process is being taken up in response to a call from the Chief Minister to halve the number of accidents in the State. The High Court too has been monitoring the situation.

Year-end target

“On their part, two Assistant Commissioners of Traffic Police identified quite a few accident spots and are trying out solutions. Our personnel have been studying the traffic pattern in accident-prone areas, convening meetings with traders and residents’ associations and working on solutions. The aim is to identify all such spots and introduce remedial measures by year-end. All stakeholders of the district-level Road Safety Council are involved in the process,” Ms. Poonguzhali said.

“It is shocking that U-turns are hewed out haphazardly across the city, without adhering to safety norms,” said Vincent John, an office-bearer of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Very often, civic agencies yield to pressure from places of worship and influential people, permitting U-turns every few hundred metres. They abound even at curves and blind spots. The situation is such that motorists go to the wrong side and travel quite a distance through the fast track to gain access to side roads at Janatha Junction on SA Road. This often causes accidents,” he added.

Meanwhile, officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said they provided U-turns in accordance with a list given by the traffic police. “We have returned stretches in the metro corridor back to the PWD and the Kochi Corporation. It is now up to them and the police to take remedial measures, if required,” they said.