Sleep deprivation top killer on ORR, causes 33 pc of accidents

Reckless driving amounted to 25 per cent of the accidents, Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar said.

Hyderabad: Alarmed by five to six accidents occurring every day on the Outer Ring Road (ORR), senior officials from multiple agencies on Tuesday, May 5, met to chalk out measures to make the busy expressway safer for the 2.80 lakh vehicles that use it daily.

The coordination meeting, held at the Telangana Integrated Command and Control Centre (TGICCC), was chaired by Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar.

Sajjanar, citing data from the past four months, told the meeting that driver drowsiness and sleep deprivation accounted for 33 per cent of accidents on the ORR, followed by reckless driving at 25 per cent, overspeeding at 15 per cent and tyre bursts at 14 per cent.

He said targeted awareness campaigns among motorists could prevent a large share of these incidents and called for data-driven safety measures and a safety ranking protocol for expressways on the lines of what exists for highways elsewhere.

Sajjanar made clear that no vehicle should be stopped on the ORR except in the event of a breakdown. In such cases, the driver must immediately call the helpline, take safety precautions and pull over strictly to the extreme left lane.

He asked officials to cut emergency response times and said traffic marshals could be deployed where required. He also directed that traffic violators be given special counselling alongside challans, and recommended that safety messages be pushed to commuters’ mobile phones as soon as they enter the ORR.

“Rather than reacting after an accident, many lives can be saved through proactive preventive measures,” he said, urging officials to work in coordination and bring the daily accident count down to zero.

Transport department steps

Transport Commissioner Ilambarthi said his department was working on several fronts, including expanding closed circuit television (CCTV) camera coverage on the ORR and implementing recent Supreme Court guidelines on road safety. He said officials had already been directed to pay special attention to vehicle fitness checks and tyre quality during inspections.

Ilambarthi also proposed holding a dedicated monthly review meeting focused exclusively on ORR road safety.IRB Infra, which maintains the ORR, made a presentation at the meeting detailing the safety measures currently being put in place on the stretch.