Centre urges public to post info on accident-prone highway spots

Troubled by the increasing number of road accidents across the country, the Union ministry of road transport and highways has asked citizens to submit data of dangerous locations on the national highways passing through their states 

The ministry is awaiting details about bad roads and dangerous stretches to plan and prioritise repair work.

“The information will help us to collate nationwide data about danger-prone spots, from reports by citizens themselves.

We are keenly looking forward to the response. The more the number of citizens writing in will help us to identify the black spots to form a strong database and rectify the errors,” said a senior official of the ministry.

Citizens can register the details about bad roads by logging in to http://morth.nic.in/qform.asp, where they can describe causes for poor safety on roads, identify accident-prone areas, describe the nature of this spot and the measures that can be taken to improve the situation.

Maharashtra, witnessed the fourth highest number of deaths (13,333) in road accidents in four years from 2009 to 2012.

Tamil Nadu    had was the highest with 16,175 road accident deaths, Uttar Pradesh second (16,149) and Andhra Pradesh third (14,964)

The Union ministry had independently conducted a survey of the black spots, but found very few locations. “We collated data from 13 states, including Maharashtra,” the official said.

“In Maharashtra we narrowed down on 25 black spots which were narrow roads, sharp curves, steep slopes or zig-zag.

But we felt that we could get more data on a real-time basis from citizens who use the roads. This is where the poll will help.”

The official said that information and suggestions regarding state highways and smaller roads would be passed on to the respective state governments for action.

This on-line survey also seeks information on the response to accidents at these places, like the availability of ambulances and hospitals and the time taken to get such help.

The Mumbai-Goa route along national highway 17 has perhaps the most number of accidents in the state and this is attributed mainly to the poor road condition.