Frequent accidents and poor safety measures have made the Mannuthy-Karukutty stretch of National Highway 544 one of the most dangerous roads in the State.
As many as 80 people were killed in 893 accidents on the 37-km stretch of the national highway from Mannuthy to Karukutty in the past two years from March 2021. In all, 1,018 people suffered injuries, many of them critically, in these accidents.
The statistics were made available through RTI queries by the Nerkazhcha Human Rights organisation. Since 2011, after the road was made four-lane, 710 deaths had been reported on this stretch, P.B. Satheesh, director, Nerkazhcha, said. The statistics were collected from various police stations on the stretch such as Ollur, Puthukkad, Kodakara, Chalakudy and Koratty.
“According to the statistics collected by Nerkazhcha, in the past 13 years, from 2011 to 2023, 4,459 accidents took place on the Mannuthy-Karukutty stretch. In all 710 people lost their lives and 4,243 people were injured, Mr Satheesh said.
Unscientific construction and lack of safety measures are cited as the main reasons for the frequent accidents. Unlike other States, there are densely populated areas on both sides of the national highway. There are no subways or foot overbridges for people to cross the road.
“In all, 177 pedestrians died in 666 accidents after they were hit by speeding vehicles while trying to cross the road. The toll road has become a model for how not to construct a national highway. There is no proper lighting or storage lane on the road,” the Nerkazhcha alleged.
There are rules to punish contractors, engineers, and national highway authorities if accidents occur due to potholes or poor roads. But whenever accidents happen, the police protect these people by blaming motorists’ carelessness as the reason for the accidents, it said.
