Minister urges coordinated efforts to reduce accidents

Theni is among the districts with highest number of accidents: Velu

Theni is one of the districts with the highest number of accidents in the State, according to Minister for Public Works, Buildings, Highways and Minor Ports E.V. Velu.

Addressing a meeting on road safety and accident prevention held here on Wednesday, Mr. Velu said 960 of the 55,713 accidents that took place in Tamil Nadu in 2021-22 were reported in Theni district and 224 people lost their lives in these accidents.

He said 48,603 of the total accidents were due to negligence of drivers. Fifty places had been identified as accident-prone black areas across the district, he said.

Awareness should be created by highways, transport, police, education and health departments to avoid road accidents.

Mr. Velu further said new projects for construction of necessary bypasses to avoid accidents and traffic jams would be sanctioned on the recommendation of the Collector.

The meeting also discussed newly constructed roads and bypasses, accident-prone areas, location of speed breakers, signboards and signals, and provision of road connectivity to remote villages.

Minister for Co-operation I. Periyasamy, Collector V. Muraleedharan and officials from various departments were present.