MP: Radium tape for cows to reduce accidents

The Khargone police have started a drive of sticking night-glow radium tapes on stray cattle and slow-moving bullock carts that cause accidents on highways of the district.

The Khargone police have started a drive of sticking night-glow radium tapes on stray cattle and slow-moving bullock carts that cause accidents on highways of the district.

Traffic police stick radium tape on the horn of a cow. (HT photo)

Accidents are more frequent on highways that pass through the tribal-dominated district during the rainy season when cattle squat on the highways to avoid flies that multiply in waterlogged farmlands, said Amit Singh, superintendent of police (SP).

Police have identified villages along highways of the district and more than a thousand radium reflectors have been stuck on bullock carts and on cattle, he said.

The reflective tapes ensure long-distance visibility and have high standard reflectivity and the glow of radium can be seen from a distance of more than a kilometer, even in dusty conditions.

Most vehicles met with accidents on Khargone highways due to straying cattle or bullock cart, said Singh.

“Every district was allotted a budget for traffic management and to contain road accidents. Most accidents in the recent past in our district have taken place on highways due of straying cattle or bullock carts so we have started the initiative,” he said.

Four state highways, including the Agra-Bombay national highway, pass through the district.

“The figures are disturbing so we have started the project,” he said.

“We have identified villages from where cattle stray on to the highways and a police team will go to each and every village to tag radium stickers on cattle. I myself have started visiting villages to make villagers aware about accidents.”

The Khargone superintendent of police further said that police have also made a number of films to show villages how families of accident victims who died on the highways were suffering.

“The aim is to reduce accidents on highways and we are hopeful that with more awareness it will come down,” he added.