HYDERABAD: Overspeeding has become a rising road safety concern as at least 17 persons lose their lives in road crashes every day due to the menace across the state.
According to accident statistics with the Union ministry, 6,592 persons lost their lives to overspeeding in 2022, while another 3,147 suffered grievous injuries. In Telangana, overspeed accounted for 85% of total road crashes.
While the total road accidents reported last year was 21,619, collisions caused due to overspeeding was 18,395.
During 2020-2022, more than 19,000 persons were killed due to overspeeding in the state. In terms of ranking, the state stands at seventh position in overspeeding accidents, which is higher than bigger states such as Gujarat,
UP
, Bihar and Odisha.
Road safety experts said overspeeding of vehicles has turned out to be a big problem as more than 80% of road crashes are caused due to such menace. While in urban areas, mostly two-wheelers and pedestrians are affected due to overspeeding, four-wheelers and heavy vehicles involve in crashes on highways. "Most of the bikes moving in the city are above 500 cc and our roads are not capable of handling heavy speed. Based on the width of the roads, markings and signages have to be designed for speed limits. There is a need to have proper speed limit boards at steep curves and road corners.
As speed laser guns do not make any difference in keeping a tab on overspeeding, authorities need to improve road infrastructure like markings and signages. A stringent enforcement has to be in place for controlling overspeeding," said Vinod Kanumala, chief functionary and road safety expert at
Indian Federation of Road Safety
.
Wrong side driving caused 400 collisions
Telangana has registered 421 road accidents in which 95 persons were killed after they went in the wrong direction.
"Closing of U-turns is leading to more accidents due to wrong side driving. Motorists always tend to look for shortcuts and closure of U-turns is forcing them to go in the wrong direction. We can control accidents by improving road infrastructure by opening or closing U-turns wherever required," said Dheerendra Samineni, a road safety expert and chief trainer at
Safe Drive India
.
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