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As lockdown norms are gradually relaxed, more vehicles are back on roads, and not unexpectedly, this has led to an increase in accidents on highways.
The state road safety council has invited stakeholders to discuss ways to minimise accidents.
As per official data, nearly 7,200 road accidents occurred on highway stretches in the first five months of this year a rise of almost 15% compared to 2020.
A senior official from the state road safety council said his team has already convened a meeting with zonal officers emphasising on road safety aspects. “All district collectors have been asked to make the district road safety committees more active,” he said.
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Tamil Nadu has roads that are among the deadliest in the country, but four major road safety projects proposed in the state have remained on paper for years now. Though tenders were floated for some projects and funds were sanctioned, nothing has materialised. Despite repeated attempts, TN road safety commissioner Tenkasi S Jawahar was unavailable to answer questions on why the four projects are being delayed.
ANPR system
In February 2018, the government had proposed to introduce a speed violation detection system (SVDS) along Chennai-Trichy national highway (NH45), which reports around 100 accidents a year. The system was to consist of speed sensors, ANPR cameras and a control centre. Any vehicle which crossed the speed limit of 100km per hour will be caught using 56 sensors fitted at multiple points on the 270km stretch. These sensors will trigger an image capture command to ANPR cameras. A total of 168 cameras were supposed to be installed. The control cen