Rising road accident deaths in Kerala: Police, Motor Vehicles department to launch special traffic enforcement drive
The Hindu
Kerala police and MVD launch intense traffic enforcement drive to curb rising road accidents, focusing on driver error and negligence.
Given the mounting public concern about the rising number of road accident fatalities in Kerala, the State police, in conjunction with the State Motor Vehicles department (MVD), is set to commence an intense traffic enforcement drive starting Monday (December 16, 2024).
Manoj Abraham, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, who is scheduled to chair a top-level meeting of traffic enforcers later in the day, told The Hindu that the police would significantly increase their “visible presence” on the roads, especially at night.
The police and MVD enforcers would use field test kits to examine drivers for alcohol and drug impairment. Drivers who violate traffic norms would face steep fines and other penalties, including licence cancellation or suspension and, in extreme cases, short prison sentences.
Mr. Abraham said alcohol-impaired driving, motorists’ negligence, sleep distraction, speeding, use of mobile phones, haphazard overnight parking on roadsides, and lack of lane discipline were the leading causes of the recent spree of accidents which claimed several lives, primarily those of pedestrians, in the past fortnight.
He noted that the accident rate has increased despite better vehicle safety features and attributed the fatalities largely to driver error.
(According to State’s Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) figures, as many as 3,168 persons were killed and 45,567 injured in 40,821 accidents till October 2024. Moreover, there was a nearly 10% increase in road accidents in Kerala in 2023 compared to the previous year. Kerala, arguably, reports the highest number of road accidents after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.)
Mr. Abraham said law-enforcers would deploy vehicle-mounted speed detection radars and cameras to prosecute drivers who violate the legal speed limit, especially near educational institutions and busy pedestrian crossings. Such mobile enforcement units would cover traffic surveillance blind spots.
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