Hyderabad, May 6 (IANS) Concerned over rising number of accidents on Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road (ORR), the administration will be rolling out a comprehensive set of robust and proactive measures to enhance commuter safety.

This was decided at a coordination meeting on Tuesday at the Telangana Integrated Command and Control Centre (TGICCC), chaired by Hyderabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar.

Sajjanar instructed that utmost priority must be given to road safety on this route, which witnesses an average daily traffic of 2.8 lakh vehicles.

Noting that an average of five to six accidents are currently occurring every day, he urged the officials to work in coordination and take steps to bring this number down to zero.

Transport Department Commissioner Ilambarthi, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority Urban Forestry Director VSNV Prasad, along with representatives from NHAI, GHMC, HGCL, and IRB Infra, as well as Traffic DCPs and Additional DCPs from the Cyberabad, Malkajgiri, and Future City Commissionerates, participated in the meeting and held extensive discussions.

Representatives from the ORR maintenance agency, IRB, gave a PowerPoint presentation detailing the measures currently being implemented for road safety.

Sajjanar emphasised that rather than reacting after an accident occurs, many lives can be saved through proactive preventive measures.

He suggested that violators of traffic rules should not only be issued challans but also be provided with special counselling.

He also recommended that safety messages should be sent to the mobile phones of commuters as they enter the ORR.

The Commissioner directed officials to take measures to reduce response times during emergencies and recommended utilising the services of traffic marshals if necessary.

He made it clear that vehicles must not be stopped on the ORR under any circumstances, except in the event of a breakdown.

If stopping is unavoidable, commuters must immediately inform the helpline, ensure adequate safety precautions, and park the vehicle exclusively in the extreme left lane.

Analysing the statistics from the past four months, he said that 33 per cent of accidents occurred due to drowsiness/sleep deprivation, 25 per cent due to reckless driving, 15 per cent due to overspeeding, and 14 per cent due to tire bursts.

He noted that these accidents could be prevented by creating extensive awareness among motorists.

He also advocated for data driven safety enhancement measures and implementing a safety ranking protocol for expressways.

Transport Commissioner Ilambarthi said that their department is taking all necessary measures to curb accidents.

These include increase in CCTV penetration, implementation of recent Supreme Court guidelines and various other measures.

He added that directives have already been issued to officials to place special emphasis on inspecting vehicle fitness and tire quality.

He also expressed the need to conduct a mandatory monthly review meeting exclusively on ORR road safety.

–IANS

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