more-in The Nilgiris district police have revealed that on an average 34 people were injured and six persons were killed in accidents on Kalhatti Ghat Road each year over the last almost five years, prompting activists to call for greater efforts to improve safety on the route. Police officials said that since 2014, a total of 168 people had suffered injuries, and 28 people died in accidents. Officials said that 2016 saw the highest number of fatalities on this route in the recent past, with nine persons dying in 21 accidents. Since then, a number of initiatives were taken to prevent speeding, as well as other measures to make the road safer, a top district police official said. The officials said that the number of deaths had reduced in the last two years, until last week’s accident between hairpin bends 34 and 35 left five of the seven tourists dead when their vehicle crashed through a barrier and plunged into a gorge. Officials said that only three persons died on this road in 2017. The police’s efforts to restrict traffic, and prevent old vehicles on this route had reduced fatality. However, more needs to be done, as crowded government buses too use the road, said president of Ooty Public Awareness Association G. Janardhanan. “The stretch of the road past the Bison Valley View Point is extremely dangerous with the steel barriers that line the road proving insufficient to prevent out-of-control vehicles from skidding off the hill and into the valley,” he said. A concrete barrier could be put up along certain sections of the road, he suggested. “More awareness boards along the route and mirrors at hairpin bends need to be put up to prevent vehicles colliding with each other,” he said.

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