more-in Two more lives were lost in the city when a speeding car hit a two-wheeler near Edappally in the early hours of Saturday. The deceased were identified as Jithendra Valluri, 27, from Andhra Pradesh and Royce John, 19, from Mulavukadu near here. The grisly accident took place on the National Highway near Kunnupuram around 3.30 a.m. when the car driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve. The Andhra native, who worked as an engineer with a private construction firm, was returning home after duty at the time of the accident. Three more persons, identified as Glen Desilva, Roy, and Abhilash, who were travelling in the car, sustained injuries. They were admitted to a private hospital in the city. On Friday, a 21-year-old woman, Karthika from Maradu, was crushed to death after a container truck hit the two-wheeler on which she was riding pillion. The woman was rushed to hospital, but to no avail. The incidents, according to the Kochi city traffic police, were just a couple among the rising number of road accidents being reported in Kochi. According to estimates, as many as 45 persons were killed and 750 sustained injuries in over 800 road accidents in the city in the first quarter of this year. The numbers reported from the Ernakulam rural district during the same period, on the other hand, stood even higher, with 80 deaths and over 1,000 sustaining injuries. “Around 75% of accidents involved two-wheelers, and they are attributed to rash and negligent driving, while there were also instances of drivers dozing off, leading to collisions,” pointed out a senior officer with the Kochi city traffic police. Further, most accidents took place during peak traffic hours, at a time when commuters often tend not to show patience for traffic norms. An assessment by the Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA) had spotted 33 accident-prone stretches in Ernakulam district. Similarly, the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NTPRC) also identified 75 black spots (places with a history of at least three major accidents in a year) in the district, of which a majority fell within the Kochi city limits. Commenting on the issue, M.P. Dinesh, District Police Chief (Kochi City), said steps were already in place to establish an intelligent traffic system to streamline city traffic. “The system envisages installation of speed cameras and radars at all crucial locations, which will effectively check the menaces of rash driving and rule violations even in late-night hours,” he added.

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