Post Doda accident, Kishtwar admn cracks down on reckless drivers
Defining speed limit for all vehicles, speed guns, heavy penalties on violators, impounding vehicles, road safety panel for projects and “Aapada Mitra”, a community led initiative, are among the efforts of the district administration
In the aftermath of the death of 39 passengers in a bus accident in Doda’s Assar area recently, the Kishtwar administration has come up with a slew of initiatives to rein in reckless drivers.
Defining speed limit for all vehicles, speed guns, heavy penalties on violators, impounding vehicles, road safety panel for projects and “Aapada Mitra”, a community led initiative, are among the efforts of the district administration.
Around 800 commercial vehicles have been penalised and nearly 100 have been seized in the district since November 20.
On November 15, at least 39 passengers were killed and 17 others were injured in what was considered the most disastrous road accident in Jammu and Kashmir in recent times.
On November 20, Kishtwar deputy magistrate Devansh Yadav issued an order, limiting maximum speed between 30 km per hour and 45 km per hour for commercial, light, heavy and non-commercial vehicles plying in the district.
“The order has been issued to check rash driving and speeding. Kishtwar is a hilly and risk-prone area. A minor mistake and the vehicle roll down into gorges,” he says.
We analysed data of accidents in the past year and determined that speeding was responsible for over 50% road accidents, he adds.
Kishtwar has two highways—one with the Border Roads Organisation’s General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) and the other with National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
While GREF has installed speed meters at vantage points on national highway 244 and NHIDCL has been directed to install them at the earliest.
“Approval for the first lot of speed guns has been sanctioned. We are procuring equipment from road safety funds,” says Yadav.
Since Kishtwar has multiple roads leading to project sites, the administration has constituted a safety audit panel for them.
The administration has devised an innovative way to check rash driving.
“The average travel time on permissible speed limit from one police check post to another has been calculated and if a bus driver covers the distance in violation of the permissible travel time, his bus will be stopped at the check post,” says Yadav.
Considering staff crunch in traffic police, regular cops have been asked to enforce traffic sense among the errant drivers.
“Further, aapada mitras, volunteers from panchayats, are being trained for traffic management,” he adds.
