Kolkata: Taking a step forward towards curbing accidents on National Highways (NH), the state government has taken up the crucial move of conducting survey of "accident prone black spots" on NH-60. The study will be conducted to ensure "geometric improvement" of the black spots that is considered to be the only way out to reduce number of accidents. in these areas. Explaining the term "geometric improvement", a senior officer of the state PWD said that there are certain spots where the turns are too sharp along with other infrastructures in the surrounding that act as "visibility barrier". Drivers cannot see whether there is any vehicle or object on the other side of the turn for which he needs to reduce the speed of the vehicle. At a high level meeting in the presence of all stake holders including PWD and concerned police officers matters related to NH-60 had cropped up. The NH originates from Balasore in Orissa and terminates at Moregram of Jangipur in Murshidabad where it merges with NH 34. At present, feasibility study and preparation of design along with estimation of project cost for "geometric improvement" will be carried out for black spots at places including Mandalkupi and Satkui in East Midnapore that falls under division II of the NH-60. Once the study is complete, the matter will be taken up with all the concerned authorities to take up the subsequent steps for implementation. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had taken up the "Safe Drive Save Life" campaign three years ago and a series of steps to improve necessary infrastructure were taken up to reduce rate of accidents in the state. The move had helped in reducing road accidents and the Supreme Court had also appreciated the move. When contacted, ADG traffic Vivek Sahai said: "The rate of accidents on NH-60 has gone down in 2019 compared to that in 2018. Now our endeavour is to reduce it further. We have informed the NHAI authorities about the vulnerability in the areas under five police station areas in West Midnapore and Birbhum. The police stations include Datan and Kharagpur in West Midnapore and two others in Birbhum. They have been urged to take necessary measures for these spots."

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