Since July this year Sirmaur district alone has witnessed 41 people being killed in two bus accidents. After Sirmaur accident deputy commissioner of Sirmaur had announced magisterial probe but according to sources thousands of accidents take place in the state every year in which hundreds of people lost their lives. Sources said magisterial probe report is sent to concerned department after each accident but no remedial measures are ever taken on these reports which results into more accidents.
Himachal Pradesh has around 7500 to 8000 buses registered in the state for transporting passengers. If the buses coming from other states and those involved in transporting students and other institutions are added then number reaches around 9000. In the remote locations buses are the sole medium of transport and their less frequency results into overloading. According to officials in state transport department they have resource constraints and have shortage of manpower in keeping regular check on the buses plying within state.
Traffic Tourist and Railways Wing (TTR) of Himachal Police had done a survey on rad accidents between 2006 to 2012 and in the survey 314 black spots were identified where 4488 accidents took place in six years resulting into death of 1048 people and injuries to 6844. According to sources, suggestions of this survey was forwarded to state PWD department so as to develop these accidents prone areas called as black spots but nothing much has happed till date.
While rash driving, overloading, untrained drivers and poor roads are among the factors that have led to the rise in fatal accidents, majority (97.84 %) of the accident were due to drunken driving and human error.
Following Sirmaur tragedy Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Kumar had directed the police officials in all the districts to launch special campaign from October 1 to 15 against drunken driving and over speeding especially in accident prone area.
IGP, administration and welfare, S R Ojha said that it has been observed that drunken driving and over speeding are the main causes of accidents resulting into loss of precious human lives. "In order to check such incidents DGP had directed to launch special campaign," he said.
Ojha said that drive would be launched particularly in the black spots (accident prone areas) of state and SP's of all the districts have been advised to use scientific equipment's like Alco Sensors and Doppler Radars.
Via: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Road-travel-a-risky-affair-in-Himachal-Pradesh/articleshow/23825161.cms
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