Saturday, November 26, 2011

Cross this road at your peril

39 pedestrians were knocked down,three fatally,in accidents on the stretch between Iblur and Agara junction on the Outer Ring Road in the last one year.Victims claim the stretch is dangerous because of a lack of street lights

Acombination of apathy on the part of local authorities and speeding motorists has made the stretch between Agara junction and Iblur junction on the Outer Ring Road dangerous - if not the most dangerous.The road is in darkness due to a lack of street lights,but despite compelling evidence in the form of a number of accidents,the civic authorities refuse to act.
Ramya Karthik remembers the day she was knocked down near Agara junction three years ago.A car rammed into me as I was crossing the road because there were no street lights, says the software engineer.
Ramya is one of the 39 pedestrians to have been involved in accidents on this stretch in the last one year.Three have died,one of them a 75-year-old man who was knocked down by a BMTC bus about six months ago.Yet,more than 80 per cent of this stretch still lacks street lights and an on-going BDA project for a signal-free corridor from TR Mills to St Johns hospital has only aggravated the problem.
The stretch is not more than 3.5 km,but the density of traffic makes people feel like they have travelled several miles, says Rehan Shariff who travels daily from Banashankari to Sarjapur.
The journey takes at least an hour, says Anchal Khanna,Shariffs car pooling partner.I was hoping that things would improve after the Agara and Iblur flyovers were built,but in vain.
The problem is even worse near Iblur junction,which has the police and army grounds on either side.
If there are apartments,the lights from them would help.But this junction is always in darkness, says Aneesh Kamath,who also uses the stretch regularly.
There are other problems plaguing the stretch.The road near Iblur junction has become narrower because one side has been dug up.But after a point,it suddenly opens up.After crawling in bumper-tobumper traffic,motorists start speeding when they see an open road.Pedestrians are the worst sufferers, says Shreyas Rane,a resident of an apartment complex nearby.
Locals complain that the lack of street lights is causing law and order problems too.Vivek Agarwal,a resident of Mantri Sarovar apartments near Silk Board,says,Once,windshields of four cars parked outside the complex were smashed by miscreants.Eunuchs solicit customers taking advantage of the darkness.
Inspector Lakshmi Narayan of Madiwala police station says,The flyovers have street lights,but not the roads nearby.We have complained several times to the BDA,which looks after the stretch,but theres been no response.

COPS TURN TO FACEBOOK

A WEEK ago,a speeding white Maruti car rammed into Vinod,who was on his bike waiting to cross an intersection.The father of two,who is in his thirties,suffered multiple fractures to his leg.The traffic polices camera has not been able to get a clear picture of the number plate of the car.M A Saleem,additional commissioner of police (traffic ) told Bangalore Mirror,We have issued an alert to all the garages in the city asking them to report damaged Maruti cars.We have also told the Tamil Nadu police to look out for the car because it was heading towards Hosur. The police have gone on Facebook to nab the hit-and-run driver.Footage from the CCTV camera has been uploaded on the Facebook page of the traffic police and the cops are asking people if they saw the speeding vehicle.

After a point,the narrow road near Iblur junction opens up,and motorists tend to zip

No comments:

Post a Comment