The authorities have decided to launch a fresh drive to identify black spots on accident-prone stretches of roads across the state.
This was decided at a meeting of the State Level Road Safety Council here on Friday.
The authorities had identified 256 black spots on accident-prone stretches of major roads in the state.
General secretary of All Odisha Private Bus Owners’ Association Devendra Kumar Sahu had alleged that the intersections on the national and state highways had not be scientifically designed at several places. This, Sahu said, led to frequent road accidents.
In view of recurring accidents, the National Highways Authority of India had been asked to redesign the traffic junctions, if necessary.
State transport commissioner Madhusudan Padhi said at the meeting stress was laid on road engineering, awareness and training to prevent fatal road accidents.
Transport minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu said the meeting expressed concern over growing incidents of fatal accidents in the state and chalked out precautionary measures to prevent such mishaps.
It was revealed at the meeting that there had been a 13 per cent increase in fatal accidents in 2017-18, compared to the previous year. There had been 1,390 deaths in 2,891 road accidents in the state last year.
Jharsuguda and Angul have been marked as the most accident-prone districts in the state. During the last five months, 34 fatal accidents have taken place in Jharsuguda district, while Angul’s count is 30. The other accident-prone districts are Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Khurda, Sambalpur, Balasore, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Balangir.
The meeting also decided not to renew driving licence of drivers, who have been found guilty of three consecutive accidents. It was also decided to make mandatory fortnightly eyesight testing for drivers. Those who would fail the vision test will have their license cancelled. Besides, stringent actions, including imprisonment, will be taken against drivers for drink and rash driving.
The meeting also discussed about the large-scale vacancies in regional transport offices. It was revealed that 14 regional transport officer and eight motor vehicle inspector posts were lying vacant across the state. It was decided to fill up the vacancies on a priority basis, official sources said.
Date: July 4, 2018
Source: The Telegraph india