Tamil Nadu reports significant reduction in road accident deaths

Tamil Nadu has reported a significant reduction in fatal road accidents with the number of deaths coming down by 273 in 2024 compared to the previous year. Corrective measures in Black Spots or accident-prone zones, effective enforcement of traffic rules and intensive drive against drunken driving contributed to the declining trend in fatal road accidents.

Despite the increase in human and vehicle population and length of roads across the State, the State police undertook a series of impactful initiatives to prevent road accidents and bring about safety, Director-General of Police & Head of the Police Force, Shankar Jiwal, said on Friday.

Rectifying design defects or other corrective measures along National/State Highways, issuing ‘challans’ to violators of traffic rules and stringent action against rash and negligent driving and intensified patrolling of accident-prone zones helped in bringing down the number of road accidents. While 18,347 people died in 17,282 fatal road accidents in 2023, the number came down to 18,074 and 17,526 respectively last year.

Driver’s error

An analysis of fatal accident cases in 2023 revealed that in 16,800 of the total 17,526 incidents, driver’s error was the cause. As part of the steps to address the issue, ‘Highway Patrol Mobile Application’ was used extensively by the traffic police for providing road safety awareness and enforcement of road safety rules. The police identified 6,165 Black Spots after conducting a field survey where ground conditions were assessed on the basis of vehicle density, traffic environment and number of accidents.

Road safety engineering measures were implemented in association with the State Highways Department to enhance safety. Of the 6,165 Black Spots, short term action was taken in 3,165 locations to reduce the speed of vehicles. A majority of the cities and districts had shown reduction in road accidents, he said.

U-turn system

Mr. Jiwal said that U-turn system implemented in Coimbatore City in consultation with the Highways Department had led to a reduction of fatalities in road accidents by 4%. As part of the programme, U-turns were introduced replacing signals at junctions resulting in better vehicular movement. A similar approach was being tried in other cities, including Chennai.

Last year, a total of 12.58 lakh cases were booked of which 2.07 lakh cases were registered against those overspeeding driving, 2.58 lakh cases against road users jumping the red signal and 4.20 lakh cases involving people found to be using their mobile phones while driving. 12,306 people were booked on charges of drunken driving. The State traffic police registered 64.94 lakh cases against people not wearing helmets and 5.78 lakh cases involving those not wearing seat belts.

Suspension of driving licences

After the State police wrote to the transport authorities recommending the suspension of driving licences belonging to 3.49 lakh individuals for violating the motor vehicle rules, 80,558 driving licences were suspended.

Mr. Jiwal said highway patrol vehicles had rescued 12,629 people who were critically injured in road accidents and rushed them to the nearest hospital within the Golden Hour.

Besides stringent enforcement of traffic rules which would also serve as a deterrence to irresponsible use of road infrastructure and negligent driving endangering fellow road users, thousands of awareness programmes were conducted to educate road users on safe and responsible driving.