State records 25.6 pc reduction in road accidents, says EPS

“Due to the continuous efforts taken by the state government, road accidents have reduced by 25.6 percentage in 2019, when compared to 2016. Tamil Nadu is well on the way to become an accident free state,” said Chief Minister, in a statement.

To increase awareness about traffic rules among public and to reduce accidents and fatalities, the Central government will observe ‘Road Safety Week’ every year. This year, the 31st ‘Road Safety Week’ is observed between January 20 and 27 across the country by all the state governments, including Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister said that as part of ‘Road Safety Week’ the state government will conduct various awareness programmes such as free medical camps for drivers, competitions for school and college students on the traffic rules, pledges will be administered across the state to observe traffic rules and awareness events wouldbe conducted on the importance of wearing helmets and seat belts.

Awards will also be given to three best police superintendents and a police commissioner taking efforts to reduce number of accidents and fatalities. Efforts taken by the state government has paid dividends as number of fatalities have reduced when compared to previous years, he said.

“Based on the guidance from the Supreme Court a Road Safety Committee was established in 2016 and the committee has issued guidelines according to which fatalities in road accidents had to be reduced by 50 per cent in 2020. The state government is about to reach the target as fatalities have reduced by 43.1 percentage when compared to 2016,” said the Chief Minister.

Chief Minister Palaniswami further said that the number of deaths per 10,000 vehicles has reduced from 19 in 2010 to just three in 2019.