Chennai, June 17 : With a spike in road accidents during the transition phases of lockdown in Tamil Nadu, there has been an increasing demand from several quarters to enforce road safety protocol and SOP to bring down the numbers.
Their concern is not without reason.
Tamil Nadu has seen a spike in accidents since May 17 after a drastic decline in April when lockdown norms were relaxed.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has altered the way of living, has brought into sharp focus the need for sustainable transportation and safe travel on the road.
“Ever since the lockdown was enforced from March 24 to contain the spread of Coronavirus, there have been several accidents of vehicles transporting migrant workers across the country.”
“With roads being relatively free during the lockdown, people tend to drive fast, and post lock down, a surge in accidents could be anticipated as many people will be on the roads and will tend to drive fast,” S Saroja, Director, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai, said.
As vulnerable road users may be the worst affected, the state government should release a road safety protocol to be followed by road users, and strictly implement it.
The increase in accidents is reflected in the number of fatalities, which shot up from 119 in April, 87 per cent less than that in the same month last year, to 548 in May 2020.
A majority of those accidents took place in the fourth week as people started stepping out of their houses for work and other reasons.
“But even with the precautions being taken by the government to disinfect the buses, the public transportation has become a cause for concern as people feel it to be an unsafe option due to the increasing Coronavirus cases.
Also, people tend to become suspicious of the commuters inside the bus,” said advocate E Srinivasan, handling road accident cases.
So, with so much of apprehensions, people are likely to prefer their own vehicles to cover great distances that they may not have travelled before the Coronavirus had spread.
“This would mean that it is unlikely for the people to park their vehicles at public parking lots to commute by the public transportation,” he added.
The CAG, a non-profit organisation which is also involved in working on road safety issues since 2015 and is a member of the Road Safety Network, a body of organisations seeking to promote road safety in India, has found that since March 24, there were at least 1,137 accidents nationwide and 274 deaths.
On May 10, about 25 people were injured in a crash in Karur district when a lorry and a bus collided. While there has been a dip in the absolute number of fatalities, the ratio of deaths to road accidents remained unchanged.
Risk factors like speeding, driving while fatigued and not wearing helmets, continue to be responsible for fatalities, the NGO noted.
Speeding on empty roads has been one of the most common reasons for road accident deaths across the country and this could be curbed by enforcing speed governors.
“As the lockdown gets lifted, there will no doubt be a surge in vehicular traffic leading to road accidents and many unnecessary fatalities. Hence, it is crucial for the government to devise strategies in advance to ensure that road accidents are minimised.
We urge the Tamil Nadu government to incorporate issues of road safety into its post-lockdown plan,” Saroja said.
In a letter to the government she said government bus drivers should be trained in Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and they should have fixed driving timings to not more than eight hours.
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the state government should establish a clear health and hygiene protocol to be followed by government bus services and people as well.
On Monday, Chief Minister K Palaniswami, following discussions with health experts who recommended tightening of lockdown restrictions, announced an intensified lockdown in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts for 12 days from June 19.
(PTI)
