COIMBATORE: Things may be looking up on the road safety front in Tamil Nadu. Compared to previous years, 2011 has seen a significant reduction in the rate of increase in road accidents in the state.In 2005, 9,758 deaths in road accidents were reported.Since then, accidents have been increasing every year and fatalities on the road touched 15,409 in 2010.In 2011, however, 15,422 deaths due to road accidents were reported, just marginally higher than the number in 2010. This is almost negligible in terms of percentage of increase, compared to previous years.From 2006 to 2010, the percentage increase stood at almost 10 per cent every year, according to the latest statistics released by the State Crime Records Bureau.The number of persons injured in road accidents has also decreased considerably in the 2011. While 75,445 persons suffered injuries in 2010, the figures were only 74,245 in 2011.The new statistics has come as a face-saver for the state government, as Tamil Nadu had the highest number of road accidents in the nation in 2010. This despite the state being the first in the country to draft a road safety policy.“The government set a target to reduce road accidents, but failed to take any scientific steps to achieve it. Instead, it opened a large number of TASMAC liquor shops, even on highways, which is directly responsible for the increase in road accidents,” says activist A Narayanan, who had filed a PIL in the Madras High Court pleading the regulation of the functioning of the liquor shops.According to police statistics, national and state highways together account for two-thirds of the total reported accidents.Out of the 60,529 road accidents reported in 2011 till November, 20,342 were reported on national highways and 19,360 on state highways.Two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws continued to be the most vulnerable, accounting for 32 per cent of total victims. Passengers of cars and jeeps account for nearly 30 per cent.The government has been arguing in its policy notes that the increase in road accidents is mainly due to the phenomenal increase in vehicles.From 74,03,744 in April 2005, the number of vehicles has nearly doubled to 1,36,60,717 in April 2011.No Let-up in Gory MishapsDespite the good news in the reduced rate of road accidents, the year will be remembered for the horrific road accidents it has witnessed.A road accident took the life of a minister in the state. Mariyam Pichai, who had just been appointed the state’s Environment Minister, was killed when the government car he was travelling in rammed into a container lorry on the Tiruchy- Chennai national highway at Thiruvalakurichi in Perambalur district on May 23. He was rushing to Chennai to attend the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected MLAs in Chennai.After a long-winded investigation, police nabbed the truck driver.Even before the state could recover from the shock, on June 7, 2011, passengers of an omni bus were charred to death after the bus overturned and caught fire at a village in Vellore district on the Chennai- Bangalore National Highway.When everybody would expect the incident to serve as a wake-up call for private omni bus operators, road accidents involving these vehicles continued. In yet another gory accident, eight people, including three women and a child, were charred to death and 21 others sustained injuries when a private bus caught fire after hitting a fuel tanker at Chithode in Erode district on November 6.The bus was proceeding from Bangalore to Coimbatore.
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