Punjab identifies 391 killer black spots on state roads, Mohali tops the list

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 19

The first report on ‘Identification and Rectification of Punjab Road Accident Black Spots’ prepared under the Tandrust Punjab Mission has identified 391 black spots on roads in 12 districts of the state. KS Pannu, Director, Tandrust Punjab Mission, released the report here on Thursday.

In the first part of the report, 391 road accident black spots had been identified in 12 districts of the state, said Pannu. Of these, 256 were on the national highways in the state, 66 on PWD roads, 42 on urban roads and 27 on rural roads, he said.

According to the directions of the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry, an accident black spot is any 500-m stretch on a road where more than five accidents have occurred in the past three consecutive years.

These 391 identified black spots have seen 2,898 road accidents in the past three years (2016 to 2018), leading to 1,910 fatalities coupled with grave injuries to 1,401 and injuries to 488 persons.

Pannu said the report was prepared under the Tandrust Punjab Mission jointly by the Punjab Vision Zero Accident team and the Traffic Wing of Punjab Police.

Navdeep Asija, Traffic Adviser, Punjab and Arbab Ahmad, Project Manager, Punjab Vision Zero Accident, prepared the report in four months.

Detailing the black spots district-wise, Pannu said SAS Nagar (Mohali) had the highest number of road accident black spots — 92. It was followed by Ludhiana with 91 such spots falling in the jurisdiction of the Ludhiana police commissionerate. Besides, six black spots have been identified in the jurisdiction of Amritsar Police (Rural), 23 in areas under the Amritsar police commissonerate, nine in Batala,12 in Gurdaspur, eight in Tarn Taran, 21 in areas under the Jalandhar police commissionerate, nine in Moga, 55 in Patiala, 30 in Roopnagar, 21 in SBS Nagar, eight in Bathinda and six in Sangrur.

Speaking about the further course of action, he said the details of the black spots would be conveyed to all government departments concerned for rectification measures and the details of those falling on the national highways would be taken up with the National Highways Authority with the request for urgent corrective measures on account of 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev.

What is ‘black spot’

According to the directions of the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry, an accident black spot is any 500-m stretch on a road where more than five accidents have occurred in the past three consecutive years

The 391 black spots in 12 districts have seen nearly 2,898 road accidents in the past three years (2016 to 2018), leading to 1,910 fatalities coupled with grave injuries to 1,401 persons and injuries to 488 persons