Pedestrian mortality rate is on the decline in the State.
Among the number of road fatalities, the number of pedestrians who lost their lives has dropped to 22.9% in 2021 from 29% in 2018, Transport Minister Antony Raju informed the Assembly on Tuesday.
While 1,719 people have died due to accidents until June this year, 394 among them were pedestrians. This was a marked fall from the previous years when 738 (out of 2,979), 1,257 (out of 4,440) and 1,250 (out of 4,303) walkers died in 2020, 2019 and 2018 respectively on the State’s roads.
Responding to questions by C.R. Mahesh, A.P. Anil Kumar, M. Vincent and T. Siddique (Congress), the Minister said one-third of the pedestrian fatalities was reported during night time. In view of the situation, efforts were being made to enhance street lighting systems on national highways and black spots along major roads.
While steps were under way to identify accident black spots across the State, the Public Works Department has initiated measures to rectify 95 high-risk black spots using funds sanctioned by the Kerala Road Safety Fund.
In addition, remedial measures were also under way in 25 critical black spots using ₹19.85 crore allocated from the Kerala Road Safety Fund, Mr. Raju added.
