A study conducted by Civil Engineering Department of the Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) revealed that about half of the road accidents in Nagpur takes place at the medians or road-dividers, and 70% of these accidents are caused due to wrongly-designed medians.
The study also showed that disturbance in traffic at the dividers causes a delay of about 21 minutes in travel time for the commuters. The monetary loss for commuters is estimated at ₹68 crore annually through these delays and accidents.
Data from a leading insurance company showed that as much as ₹28.45 crore is paid as accidental claim to the policyholders. “This money paid by the car insurance companies could have been saved if citizens are educated and the medians are scientifically designed,” said Vishrut Langde, the associate professor from the concerned department of VNIT.
The wrongly constructed dividers placed at wrong positions have been disrupting the traffic in Nagpur since long. The city has around 2500 median openings but they are not planned properly and scientifically. Langde informed that minimum distance between the medians should be 500 metres but they are not maintained anywhere.
As per the data released by the institute, 1242 road accidents took place in the city last year claiming 232 lives and injuring 1285 persons. According to civil engineering Professor YB Katpatal, traffic indiscipline is another major cause of accident besides medians. Hence, every school must teach traffic disciplines as a compulsory subject.
*Source: The Times Of India
Also Read:
KCR Announces Mega Insurance Schemes For Farmers
Insurance Cover Of ₹50 lakh for India’s CWG-bound Athletes