A father and a son, riding a two-wheeler on the GST Road in Chennai, were involved in a nasty accident and died due to bad road maintenance in Chennai on Sunday.

With the northeast monsoon round the corner, Chennai roads are bound to worsen and unfit for motor traffic. Some of the stretches are already in such a bad condition that they are “unsafe at any speed”.

Studies reveal that road environment is a contributing factor in 30 per cent of accidents in the country as adequate safety is not built into the system of planning, design, construction and maintenance of roads.

Studies have also shown that there are many high frequency accident locations in the road system. For example, in the last 10 years Chennai has recorded 15 fatal and 25 injury accidents at a dangerous curve on the ECR stretch near Injambakkam.

Trees, poles, embankments and other fixed objects contribute significantly to injuries which are roadside hazards. They should be identified and steps to reduce crash severity such as removal of fixed objects, installation of guardrails and improvement of road shoulder should be carried out.