Police in Uttarakhand will soon launch a mobile application with the help of Google Maps to alert drivers about blind turns on the state’s roads, especially in the hilly areas, in an effort to reduce the number of road accidents.
The application, “Meri Yatra”, is likely to be launched on January 31 and would alert drivers about the 673 accident-prone blind turns identified by the police across the state.
Kewal Khurana, deputy inspector general of the state traffic police department, said the main motive of the initiative is to reduce the number of accidents, especially those involving tourists visiting the state.
“Usually, tourists coming to the state with their vehicles are unaware of the blind turns on roads in the hill areas. This mobile app, which would be associated with Google Maps, would alert them about any blind turn on their routes 400 metres before with a beep,” said Khurana.
He also said the application would have the details of the number of blind turns in all the 13 districts of the state.
Traffic police data show the most number of blind turns identified were in Dehradun at 83 followed by 68 in Almora and 67 in Bageshwar districts.
{{/usCountry}}Traffic police data show the most number of blind turns identified were in Dehradun at 83 followed by 68 in Almora and 67 in Bageshwar districts.
{{/usCountry}}Among the other districts, 65 blind turns were identified in US Nagar district, 63 in Chamoli, 61 in Tehri Garhwal, 55 in Pithoragarh, 54 in Nainital, 50 Pauri Garhwal, 37 in Haridwar, 27 in Rudraprayag, 28 in Uttarkashi and 24 in Champawat.
“After identifying all the blind-turns, police personnel verified them with their latitude and longitude locations to be fed in the app in association with Google Maps for which we have already written to Google’s India office,” Khurana said.
“After we receive its nod, the application would be likely launched on January 31 for free on Google’s Play store. The trial run on the platform had already been done successfully.”
He added the app will also have more details to help tourists on information about hotels and guidelines.
“It would be a complete app to help the tourists in finding hotels with available rates and other related services. It would also provide guidelines to follow while driving on hilly roads or during trekking on a popular trek route in the state,” the police official said.
The number of road accidents in the hill state has come down last year in comparison with the preceding year of 2018.
According to the traffic police data, the number of accidents from January to November 2019 came down to 1221 against 1314 accidents during the same period in 2018.
Similarly, the number of deaths in road accidents also reduced last year as 778 fatalities were reported against 952 in 2018.