Punjab: In a major achievement towards road safety, Punjab has succeeded in eliminating 125 black spots while 220 new accident prone areas have been identified in the state, according to a recent report. This has been possible due to the sustained road safety drive. Ludhiana holds the dubious distinction of being the “most accident prone” district in the state with the highest number of 127 black spots (96 old and 31 newly identified). A research on identification and rectification of accident prone black spots was conducted by Punjab Road Safety and Traffic Research Centre (PRSTRC) led by Director Dr Navdeep K Asija with the help of Punjab Police.
The research findings titled “Identification and Correction of Road Accident Black Spots in Punjab 2020-22 Phase-IV” were made part of the annual report on “Road Accidents and Traffic in Punjab 2023”, released recently by DGP Gaurav Yadav. The report prepared by a team of experts led by ADGP (Traffic & Road Safety) AS Rai revealed that 220 new accident black spots were identified in 23 administrative districts comprising 25 police districts and three police commissionerates during the fourth phase of the recent study period between 2020 and 2022. This took the total number of black spots in the state to 678, as out of a total of 583 such spots identified during the third phase of the study conducted between 2019 and 2021, 458 still exist while 125 of them have been rectified/eliminated.
Sharing details, Dr Asija, who is also the traffic advisor to the Punjab government, said the identification was done after extensive research of various roads in the state. Rai, who has been spearheading road safety drive for the past few years and recently constituted the country’s first road safety force in the state, said with elimination of over 21 per cent black spots, roads in Punjab have become comparatively safer. Dr Asija said out of the 458 existing accident black spots analysed, 356 (78 per cent) are located on national highways, followed by 36 (8 per cent) on state highways, 31 (7 per cent) on urban MC roads, 19 (4 per cent) on other district roads, 15 (3 per cent) on major district roads, indicating areas requiring targeted improvements.
