Balasore, Oct. 17: The need for stricter enforcement of road safety measures has been felt in this district in the wake of two major accidents on NH-5 within a span of three days during last week.

On Sunday morning, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) coming from Bengal collided with a stationary vehicle on NH-5 near Simulia. All the eight passengers in the speeding SUV died in the accident.

Three days later, another speeding SUV coming from Mayurbhanj side hit a truck that was parked on NH-5 at Markona, a few kilometres away from the earlier accident spot. This accident also took the lives of six persons.

After these fatal accidents, road safety activists have charged local transport authorities with the inability to enforce strict safety measures on the highway.

The regional transport office, however, has launched a drive to clear all roadside encroachments on the highway. It has also urged the district collector to fix the speed limit of non-commercial private vehicles. The transport department has also requested the collector to take up the matter of parking of passenger and goods transport vehicles with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

“We have launched a drive to remove encroachments from either side of the highway and generate awareness for parking of vehicles at proper places,” said regional transport officer in-charge Biranchinarayan Adhikari.

“There is a prescribed maximum speed limit of 65km per hour for plying of commercial vehicles on the highway. But, there is no fixed speed limit for plying of private vehicles. Hence, we have proposed to the collector to fix the speed limit of private vehicles at 70km per hour,” he said.

District collector Akhil Bihari Ota said: “The fatal accidents within such a short span of time are causes for serious concern. I will take steps to fix the speed limit of non-commercial vehicles after consulting with technical experts. I will also discuss the parking issues with the NHAI.”