A’bad third in accidents caused by road work

Ahmedabad: In 2021, Ahmedabad reported 201 accidents – the third highest in the country – due to construction work on the roads, which claimed 46 lives. In all, 135 people were injured, of whom 82 were grievously injured. The city also reported one death due to a pothole on the road. Kanpur recorded 542 accidents, the highest in the country, followed by Delhi with 234 accidents due to road work.
Ahmedabad city has registered more accidents than Bengaluru (nine cases), Chennai (one), Faridabad (three), Ghaziabad (18) and Gwalior (170).
In Gujarat, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara with a million plus population each have zero cases due to ongoing road work.
Gujarat registered 409 such accidents, claiming 154 lives and injuring 321. The state was ranked sixth in the country when it comes to accidents due to ongoing road work or construction. Five people died in eight accidents caused due to potholes.
A former deputy municipal commissioner said, “Work pertaining to drainage lines or water supply lines is always on in the city. Usually, the contractor does not resurface the stretch of the road properly after completing repair work and many a time, this leads to accidents.”
The DyMC further said that most work takes place during the day and people are forced to use only one side of the road.
Amit Khatri, a traffic expert, said that the metro train project and road widening work have been going on in the city for the past few years.
Besides, the roads get badly damaged during the monsoon. This too has led to an increase in road accidents. “Debris left on a side of the road often leads to accidents because of vehicles skidding,” said Khatri.
A senior RTO officer said that even in consultative meetings, it is always pointed out that the debris should be removed immediately after the repair work concludes, but due to gaps in coordination, the debris remains on the road for several days. However, bad roads due to monsoon, cause more number of accidents, he said.
Lalit Padaliya, chief road safety commissioner, Gujarat Road Safety Authority, said, “On the highways, the instructions pertaining to road diversions are put up about 500m from the site. However, in the cities we will have to check if the rules are followed. If not, we will direct them to install signage in accordance with the rules.”