Dearth of ‘crash barriers’ reason for high rate of ‘roll down’ accidents in HP
The Hindu
The total road length of the State is 38,035 kilometres whereas crash barriers are installed at only 520 km (1.36%) of the total road length.
A day after 13 lives were lost in an accident, where a bus rolled down into a deep gorge in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district, the State police on Tuesday pointed at insufficient ‘crash barriers’ along the roads as the key reason behind the high rate of ‘roll-down’ accidents in the hill State.
An analysis of Rolled Down accidents data in the State between 2017 to 2021 revealed that as many as 3,020 ‘roll down’ accidents took place in Himachal Pradesh in the past five years, in which 2,633 valuable lives were lost and 6,792 persons sustained injuries.
The Shimla district saw the maximum number of accidents at 973 (32%), followed by district Mandi at 425 (14%). Chamba and Sirmaur districts witnessed 306 (10%) ‘roll down’ accidents.
The analysis shows that as many as 1,679 (56%) ‘roll down’ accidents have occurred on the link roads followed by 1,185 (39%) on National and State Highways in the State. As far as the reasons behind the accidents were concerned - overspeed in 1,264 (42%), dangerous driving in 641 (21%) and turning the vehicle carelessly in 609 (20% ) were found to be the key causes.
The data shows that 79 buses ‘rolled down’ the hills into gorges in the last five years. Besides, in 1,530 (51%) ‘roll down’ accidents, motor cars were involved followed by pickup-utility vehicles in 592 (20%) such accidents.
Pointing out that the ‘roll down’ accidents often happen due to lack of ‘crash barriers’ along the roads, the office of the State’s Director General of Police has shared the details of black spots-clusters-stretches with the State’s Public Works Department for installing crash barriers. A list of 10 vulnerable stretches in each district of the State that immediately require crash barriers have been shared with the HPPWD, according to an official statement.
The total road length of the State is 38,035 kilometres, whereas crash barriers are installed at only 520 km (1.36%) of the total road length.
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