91 black spots claimed 524 lives in 3 yrs

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 31

As many as 524 lives were lost in 733 road accidents reported on 91 black spots in Ludhiana Police Commissionerate limits during the past three years, the government has confirmed.

Officialspeak

The overall aim of road safety exercise is to fulfil the safety goals and targets. These goals not only decide what resources are needed but also influence what mitigation measures should be applied. — R Venkat Ratnam, DG, Agency on road safety

While 343 persons sustained serious injuries, 132 were left with minor wounds from 2016 to 2018, the official figures have revealed.

The figures were released in the report, “Accident black spot identification and rectification program on various highways/ roads of Punjab – 2019” compiled by the state government.

The report, which was first in the series, prepared by the Transport department in collaboration with the Punjab Police and Safety Alliance for Everyone (SAFE) Society under the “Safe Punjab Programme”, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, mentioned that a total of 391 accidental black spots were identified in 14 police districts falling under 12 administrative districts of the state.

Another 407 black spots were identified in 16 police districts of the state during 2017 to 2019, which were released in the second part of the report, released by the Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar recently.

While Ludhiana topped all the three Police Commissionerates in the state with the maximum number of 91 black spots, which were almost double than the total cumulative count of 46 black spots identified in other two Police Commissionerates – Amritsar (23) and Jalandhar (21), Mohali topped the state with a highest count of 92 black spots in its limits.

Among other districts, six black spots were found in Amritsar Rural, nine in Batala, eight in Bathinda, 12 in Gurdaspur, nine in Moga, 55 in Patiala, 30 in Ropar, six in Sangrur, 21 in Nawanshahr, and eight in Tarn Taran.

The black spots have been classified into five different orders, comprising 36 in first order, which require immediate attention of the authorities concerned without any delay, 27 in second order, 35 in third order, 54 in fourth order, and 239 black spots were categorised under the fifth order

Of the total 36 first order, which in other words were the most killer spots, a maximum of 10 such black spots were identified in Ludhiana Police Commissionerate limits alone, followed by eight in Mohali, five in Patiala, three each in Jalandhar Police Commissionerate and Ropar, two each in Batala and Nawanshahr, and one each in Amritsar Police Commissionerate, Bathinda and Moga.

The bifurcation of the total identified 391 black spots showed that a maximum of 264, which comprised 68 per cent of the total locations, were located on the national highways, 64, accounting for 16 per cent on state highways, 54, comprising 14 per cent, on municipal roads, 6, accounting for 2 per cent on link roads, and 3, comprising 1 per cent, were found on other roads in the state.

Of the total 733 road mishaps reported in Ludhiana Police Commissionerate limits during the past three years, a maximum of 264 were recorded in 2016, 248 in 2017, and 221 in 2018.

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