Shimla witnesses sharp decline in road accidents this apple season

Tribune News Service

Sameer Singh

Shimla, September 8

There has been a drastic decline in the number of road accidents and deaths during the current apple transportation season in Shimla.

As per the Police Department data, 39 road accidents, 19 deaths, and 63 injuries were reported in August 2022. In August 2023, 16 accidents, five deaths and 36 injuries were reported.

The data further revealed that in the entire apple season in 2022 (from July 15 to the first week of October), as many as 130 accidents took place, 70 people died and 253 sustained injuries.

This year, a total of 65,301 vehicles, including trucks, trailers and pick-ups, have transported apples from Shoghi, Gumma, Balag, Fagu, Kuddu and Parala mandis in Shimla since July 22. These vehicles have transported more than one crore boxes of apples from the district so far this season.

Apart from acting tough against people violating traffic rules, the district police had identified 12 accident-prone locations and turned them into holding/halting points for vehicles.

Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi said, “We studied everything deeply and identified loopholes before putting in place the measures, which resulted in a substantial decline in road accidents and deaths. Setting up of holding points at strategic locations proved to be really fruitful for us. People from other states are not much experienced in driving in hills, so these halting points give their vehicles the breathing space to maintain pressure.”

“It has been observed that drivers from plains often do not know when to apply the right gear, especially when the vehicle is descending a road. So, our teams counsel them on how to drive safely in hills. The new method, along with the efficiency of our teams, has managed to reduce the number of deaths and road accidents,” added Gandhi.

Apart from this, challans were issued for overloading, rash and negligent driving, drunken driving and over-speeding, among other violations. This, coupled with other preventive measures, helped the police maintaining road discipline.

A substantial part of the apple crop has already been transported safely this season, the SP said.

12 halting points play key role

• The district police had identified 12 strategic locations (accident-prone areas) and turned them into holding/halting points for vehicles.
• This, coupled with other preventive measures, helped us keep things in check, the SP said.
• Against 39 road accidents, 19 deaths and 63 injuries in August 2022, as many as 16 accidents, five deaths and 36 injuries were reported in August this year.

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