more-in District Collector Kona Sasidhar has asked the police and excise departments to show zero tolerance towards illegal liquor outlets along the State and national highways and ordered them to crack down on all such outlets. Addressing the district level Road Safety Meeting here on Thursday, Mr. Sasidhar said road accidents have been taking an enormous toll of lives in recent days and called for a concerted action plan aimed at reducing the accident rate. Apart from identifying black spots on national highways, laying of speed breakers and display of warning signboards should be completed on a war-footing, the Collector said. The Road Transport Authority department said 161 road accidents were reported in June 2016 in which 55 people lost their lives. In June 2017, there were 152 road accidents of which 60 lost their lives. Special drive Superintendent of Police, Guntur Rural, Ch. Venkat Appala Naidu said a special drive to curb driving by minors has been launched as fatalities in youngsters below 25 years due to road accidents were increasing at an alarming rate. A recent data revealed that fatalities in men and women below the age of 25 years accounted for more than 60 % of deaths in road accidents. “The findings are alarming, and in just one hour of surprise check on driving on July 11, 758 underage boys and girls were caught driving bikes and scooters in Guntur Rural police limits. We counselled the boys and their parents before letting them go. The special drives would continue till July 30,’’ the SP said. The Guntur Police would also launch a special awareness campaign in schools and colleges about the dangerous effects of driving without proper training and license. The police would take the help of NGOs involved in road safety programmes to conduct the awareness sessions. There are four national highways and 41 State highways in the region. In 2016, 1,368 road accidents were reported of which 197 accidents took place on national highways, 504 on State highways and 667 on other roads. In the year 2017, so far, 144 accidents took place on national highways, 266 on State highways and 320 on other roads. As many as 337 people were killed in road accidents and 899 people were injured.

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