GURUGRAM: With an aim to reduce the road fatalities by around 25% this year, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has identified a dozen accident-prone spots in Gurugram. It has planned multi-layered programmes to make city roads safer for commuters, including checking traffic violations to improving road engineering and installing signage to help motorists taking turns at busy junctions.
Around 790 accidents took place between January and December 2020, in which a total of 335 people died while another 85 sustained injuries.
The accident-prone spots identified and analysed by RTA include Hero Honda Chowk, Khandsa crossing, Shankar Chowk, Bilaspur Chowk and Sidhrawali crossing, among others
“We have identified and analysed the spots that witnessed the maximum number of accidents and found out that major reasons behind them are traffic violations, speeding and some infrastructure issues,” said Dharna Yadav, secretary of RTA Gurugram.
She said fog is also one of the major reasons for accidents in winter. In the last 16 days, around 116 accidents have been reported across the city due to dense fog, in which five people died while 38 were severely injured.
Lack of pedestrian zones and awareness among motorists about the importance of slowing down their vehicles at junctions is also a reason for accidents in Gurugram. According to a survey earlier conducted by traffic police, jaywalking, speeding, incorrect parking of trucks along the national highway during night, non-functional traffic signals and faulty road engineering are the major causes of accidents.
Yadav said they have already started a drive against overloaded and unauthorised vehicles plying on roads. “RTA will be distributing 2,000 reflective jackets to cyclists, bikers and pedestrians to increase visibility in fog and the dark. Most accidents in winters take place due to fog and low visibility,” said Yadav.
Earlier in December during a road safety committee meeting, issues related to traffic junctions in the city were discussed.
At Hero Honda Chowk, issues like wrong-side driving, lack of pedestrian infrastructure, signage, streetlights and road markings were observed.
Moreover, the traffic intersection at Khanda has no safe crossings for pedestrians and cyclists, while Shankar Chowk, Sirdhrawali and Bilaspur Chowk also lack pedestrian infrastructure.
Haryana has recently approved Haryana Vision Zero, aimed at achieving zero road fatalities in the state. Under this programme, a team of road safety experts collaborate to analyse data of fatal accidents in particular areas and then audit the road stretch to identify the reasons for accidents and suggest interventions like road engineering among others.