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Mohali police to equip heavy vehicles with reflectors to prevents accidents in fog
These red-taped reflectors will help commuters spot the stationed or slow-moving vehicles amid fog and save lives, say Mohali police
Mohali Police are gearing up to install reflectors on heavy commercial vehicles across the district to curb road crashes amid foggy season.
During dense fog season, towards the end of December, visibility can fall below 250 metres, while on a normal day, visibility remains between 4,000 to 5,000 metres.
According to officials, Mohali Police will commence the special drive to install the reflectors from Tuesday in Phase 1 with an aim to increase the visibility of vehicles during dense fog.
“We will initially install around 1,000 reflectors on buses, trucks, tractors and trailers in rural areas of the district besides industrial areas and focal points. These red-taped reflectors will help commuters spot the stationed or slow moving vehicles amid fog and save lives. During this drive, our cops will also encourage commuters to drive safely,” Mohali senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Kumar Garg said.
According to police, accidents scale up during winter. Another senior police officer said commuters would be challaned if found with defunct car lights.
Traffic lights installed in Kharar
After repeated requests from local police and approval by the road safety committee, local administration has installed traffic lights at multiple intersections recording heavy vehicle movement in Kharar. This will also streamline the traffic in Kharar and reduce road crashes amid fog.
“Due to heavy traffic flow at several Kharar intersections, including Gopal Sweet Chowk, Nijjar Chowk, KFC Chowk, besides other chowks, police submitted requests with the authorities concerned and also raised the need of installation of traffic lights at these points in the monthly road safety meeting chaired by deputy commissioner (DC), Mohali. After checking the feasibility, the authorities concerned installed the new traffic lights that will help reduce accidents in the area, especially in foggy weather,” a senior officer said.
Notably, unchecked reckless driving on Mohali roads snuffed out a total of 183 lives in Mohali district in the first nine months of the year, police data reveals.
Of the total victims losing their lives to road mishaps till September 30, a significant 50% (93) were riding a two-wheeler, indicating a biker’s death in an accident on every third day.
Pedestrians are the next most vulnerable, as they formed 35% (65) fatalities, followed by cyclists, who constituted 7% (13) of deaths in mishaps.
Another 27 lives were lost in October, until when the district recorded 377 accidents in 10 months.
In 2022, 296 people had died in 494 road crashes reported across the district.
Of the total road fatalities in 2022, a whopping 62% were reported from six areas of Mohali — Airport Road, Sohana, Kharar, Zirakpur, Lalru and Dera Bassi, as per data compiled by the police department. The year before, accidents claimed 237 lives in Mohali.
