Gujarat: Two women killed in road accident

Ahmedabad, Oct 24 (IANS) Two elderly women were killed in a road accident on Mahadevpura–Gwada Road in Bijapur, Mehsana district in Gujarat.

According to police sources, an unidentified speeding vehicle rammed into the victims before fleeing the scene.

The collision was so severe that both women sustained fatal head injuries and died on the spot.

The deceased have been identified as Puri Thakor and Mooli Thakor, both residents of the local area.

Following the incident, Bijapur Police rushed to the location, recovered the bodies, and sent them for post-mortem examination.

A case of hit-and-run and accidental death has been registered against the unidentified driver.

Authorities have launched a manhunt to trace the vehicle and the driver, scanning CCTV footage from nearby areas and recording witness statements.

Police officials said that every effort is being made to bring the accused to justice and provide closure to the victims' families.

Over the three years from 2020-21 to 2022-23, the state recorded 4,860 hit-and-run cases, which resulted in 3,449 fatalities and 2,720 injuries. Furthermore, data presented in the state Assembly revealed that from April 2022 to March 2023, a hit-and-run death occurred roughly every eight hours across Gujarat.

The Gujarat government has stepped up its efforts to curb hit-and-run incidents and broader traffic violations through a combination of technology, enforcement and awareness campaigns. For instance, it has rolled out an e-challan system at 86 toll plazas across the state, which, in just two months, flagged over 77,000 violations, including missing insurance, pollution under control certificates and vehicle fitness checks.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Road Safety Authority (GRSA) has set a target of achieving 75 per cent compliance with helmet and seat-belt rules by 2030, backed by crash‐barrier installations, driver eye-check programmes and school-based awareness drives.

On the enforcement front, specific campaigns in urban centres such as Ahmedabad and Rajkot have resulted in thousands of fines for wrong-side driving, overspeeding and helmet non-use - with e-speed guns and interceptor vehicles now increasingly employed.

Collectively, these measures are designed to detect offenders more quickly, build a deterrence effect and reduce the number of anonymous fleeing vehicles in hit-and-run cases.

--IANS

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