Bhubaneswar, Feb. 15: Police have decided to take help from road experts and identify the city's accident-prone areas to increase road safety.

The decision comes in the wake of an exponential rise in road accidents in 2015 compared to the previous year. The police recorded 600 accidents in 2015 compared to 516 cases in 2014. Around 175 people died and 572 suffered injuries in road mishaps in 2015.

Police commissioner Y.B. Khurania said they would shortly constitute a team of road experts and other stakeholders, including the police and transport officials, to identify accident-prone areas.

"We would initiate corrective measures after the identification process gets over. We will also hold a meeting with works department officials in this regard," said Khurania.

The police said that though most accidents took place on the National Highway No. 16 that passes through the city, other roads too have also witnessed mishaps. "Rash driving is the major reason behind accidents in the city. We have been conducting frequent drives to prevent over speeding and drunk driving," said a police official.

Residents, however, have blamed the rise in accidents on faulty road design, lack of proper lighting, inadequacy of traffic personnel to manage their posts and lack of parking facilities.

Earlier, transport department officials had also decided to identify black spots (accident-prone spots) in the state. Khandagiri Square is among the black spots identified so far by the authorities. According to central government specifications, 10 accident cases at a site on the National Highway in a year is considered as a black spot. The police said that more than 30 people had died following accidents at Khandagiri Square in the past three years.

Communication gap between various stakeholders as a deterrent in dealing with traffic-related issues is one of the major allegations aimed at various departments. "Though we have been asking the works department to paint the zebra crossings on city roads, they are yet to do it," said a police official.

In a related development, the police have written to the National Highways Authority of India to construct barrier to segregate the highway and other approach roads at Khandagiri Square in view of the Magh Mela.

"In the absence of barricades, vehicles coming on the approach roads enter the national highway, increasing the risk of accidents. As thousands of visitors are expected to visit the mela on a daily basis, it has become necessary to put up a barricade," said the official.