The 106-km long Mannuthy-Cherthala highway is a safe corridor on regional transport authority books and was converted into an accident-free zone last year to bring down the number of accidents.
But ‘Safe Corridor’ remains a misnomer as the stretch has recorded a total 256 accidents and 37 deaths in the past two months, according to statistics from traffic police.
Most of the accidents were reported in the Aroor-Kumbalangi area, which comes under the first phase of ‘safe corridor’ project.
The officials had planned to set up surveillance cameras right from Aroor to Cherthala but they have placed only in a few places near Cherthala. The accident-prone Aroor and Kumbalangi areas are yet to have a signal system.
It was Manual and Iby, a couple, who were the latest to get killed in this highly dangerous stretch late on Wednesday night.
A 11-year old boy, Arun Vijay was also killed in an accident near Kumbalam that morning. In another mishap on Sunday, a two-and-half year old child was killed.
Statistics also points to most accidents happening at night and the stretch does not have street lights. Neither have speed breakers nor additional traffic signals been installed.
The authorities have not posted sufficient traffic personnel, making it the most unsafe road, local residents say.