Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The national highways in Assam have 236 identified black spots, and the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) is taking corrective measures on a priority basis.
A black spot on a highway is a 500-metre stretch of road where there have been five or more road accidents, involving serious injuries or fatalities, in the past three years.
The MoRTH informed the Parliament that till November 2024, as many as 13,795 black spots were identified in the country, including 236 in Assam. The Ministry also informed the Parliament that as many as 27,214 road accidents had occurred in Assam from June 2022 to November 2024. However, all these accidents were not in the black spots, and there were accidents in other areas as well.
The state PWD has also identified some black spots on state highways. The department has instructed the district road safety committees to take corrective measures at the black spots.
According to sources, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the National Highway Infrastructure and Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) take short-term measures to mitigate the risk and long-term measures to fix the problems of black spots permanently. Installing zebra crossings, crashing barriers and railings, improving junctions, illuminating road stretches with solar lights or blinkers, cleaning road signage, correcting horizontal and vertical geometry in highway planning, etc., are some of the corrective measures.
According to sources, around 60 percent of the accidents occur involving people of the age group 18-34. Some of the reasons behind road accidents are reckless driving violating traffic rules, including overtaking from the wrong side, drunk driving, and overspeeding, etc.
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