As reports of road accidents become more and more frequent in the state, the Kerala Road Safety Authority has highlighted the state’s most deadly accident spots in a report to the government. As per the report, there are 341 ‘high priority blackspots’ in Kerala, where fatal accidents have become more common.
The report’s study, conducted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC), has also been handed over to the Police and Motor Vehicles Department to consider measures that would help control the fatal accident spots. About 1,730 lives have been lost in these spots between 2016 and 2018.
According to the report, Thiruvananthapuram is the worst hit district in the state, with the highest number of blackspots. In about 65 listed points in the district, around 363 people have lost their lives.
Four out of the top 10 deadly spots, including the first and most dangerous on the list, are in Thiruvananthapuram district. Thiruvananthapuram’s Pappanamcode junction in Karamana, has been ranked as the first ‘high priority blackspot’ claiming the lives of 15 people in about 102 accidents in the past three years. Third, fourth and fifth positions in the blackspot list are also places in Thiruvananthapuram, namely Karamana Junction, Balaramapuram Kodinada Junction and East Fort Junction.
Kollam’s Parimanam temple, Kuttipuram of Malappuram district, Thuravoor junction in Chandiroor and Haripad of Alappuzha district round out the top 10.
Ernakulam district, with 58 dangerous accident spots, follows Thiruvananthapuram in the frequency blackspots. Four people, including three members of the same family, were recently killed in an accident at Angamaly junction — one of the district’s blackspots — after an auto rickshaw carrying the passengers and driver crashed into a private bus. Out of 83 accidents that have taken place at Angamaly Junction, about 12 people have lost their lives. Angamally junction is number six in the overall ranking across the state.
On Thursday, a 23-year-old Kochi native was killed along the Edapally-Palarivattom Road after hitting a pothole and falling onto the road, after which he was run over by a lorry. The Changampuzha junction on the Edapally-Palarivattom Road has been positioned at 205 among the 341 blackspots.
Notably, Kasaragode is the only district without any high-priority blackspots listed. The study also found single blackspots in Kannur, Wayanad and Idukki districts.