Bypass road: Authorities take stringent safety steps

Kozhikode, May 27 (UNI) Alarmed over increasing number of accidents on a bypass road in northern Kerala, authorities have enforced stringent road safety measures to contain the mishaps.

This included installation of speed trappers using radars on the ten km-long Ramanattukara-Thondayadu Bypass which accounted for 99 accidents claiming 33 lives since it was opened to traffic in February 2006, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic-South) K P Vijaya Kumar said.

Traffic police personnel were deployed at various places to detect overspeeding and those guilty penalised on the spot, he said.

Speed breakers and bumpers were erected at various places prompting drivers to decrease speed.

Many people were also injured, some of them seriously, in the accidents on the bypass connecting to National Highway 17, in 15 months, he said adding reckless and careless driving were the main causes of the mishaps.

Another major cause, said Deputy Circle Inspector E K Radhakrishan, was drunken driving.

''Motorists conveniently forget traffic rules while at wheels after intake of alcohol,'' he said.

As the road was comparatively less congested and straight, drivers were tempted to speed up resulting in fatalities.

Allowed speed on the road was 40-50 kmph but vehicles were moving at an average 80-100 kmph, he added.

UNI