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Cithara Paul
Cithara Paul

ROAD ACCIDENTS

Kozhikode cops mark 'death spots' on roads to alert drivers

death-spots-kozhikode Officials said there had been a fall in the number of accidents after the marking of 'death spots' [Image source: Facebook]

Concerned with high rate of accidents, the city police came up with a novel idea

If you happened to see a yellow square with red blotch on the roads while travelling through Kozhikode city, it means only one thing—that you need to be extra alert while driving. These are 'death spots' where lives have been lost in accidents.

Concerned with the high rate of accidents in the district—185 deaths in 2017—it was the the city police which came up with the novel idea. All major roads in the city, including the Kannur and Wayanad roads, have been marked with the yellow spots. 

“We decided to mark the 'death spots' as there has been an unusually high number of accident-related deaths in the district last year. Most of the accidents were caused by motorbikes and the dead ones are mostly in their twenties. We hope these marks will alert the drivers,'' said a senior officer at the Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) office. 

The marking work was completed by the end of last year and there has been a fall in the number of accidents after that, he said. “We hope these death spots will be a life-saver,'' he added.

The officer hoped that other districts in Kerala will, too, follow the Kozhikode model. “Our state is among those with highest number of road accidents in the country. The drivers need to be careful while driving, and these spots will alert them,'' he said.

But all drivers are not convinced.

“I have seen these spots at many places and wondered what they are all about. I never knew that these were 'dead spots' intended to put the drivers on alert,'' said Noushad, a taxi driver. 

According to him, the traffic police need to sensitise the drivers regarding these spots. 

An officer at the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) told THE WEEK that the move was in the right direction. “Other states like Tamil Nadu have also adopted the 'death spot' marking. But there they write the word 'fatal' in red ink inside the yellow square,'' he said.

“If there is the right amount of sensitisation along with this marking, there will be a drastic reduction in accidents,'' the official said.

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Topics : #Kerala

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