Watch out for this dashing stretch

Watch out for this dashing stretch
By Jagadish Angadi,DH News Service,Bangalore:
A two kilometre stretch from Kamakshipalya traffic police station to Prasad Granite's on Magadi Road has earned the dubious reputation of giving open invitation to accidents!

Going by the police figures: on an average 75 cases are registered for traffic violations every day. The number would be around 2255 a month and 36,000 a year. More than 10 non-fatal accidents take place a week which go unnoticed many a times. There is only one automatic signal besides five manned signals. Nearly 60 BMTC buses ply on this stretch during peak hours. The number of vehicles and pedestrians are on constant rise, but width of the road remains the same.

According to the police and residents of the areas, main reasons for accidents include congested road, sloppy and curve stretches, BMTC drivers, drunken pedestrians and motorists, several big trees with huge branches on both sides near Sunkadkatte and increasing residential areas and factories across the road.

“The BBMP has not bothered to widen the road. There is no centre median on the road. Lack of the median provokes motorists to take diversions. Most of the residents in the area are garment factory workers, drunkards and lack traffic awareness,” a traffic police constable said.

Besides, BMTC drivers are also responsible for the accidents. They park the buses in a haphazard manner blocking the road. They don’t heed to the police’s plea to follow traffic rules. We impose fine on such vehicles and send a copy to the BMTC higher-ups. But, we never get any reply from them, he said.

Many a times the drivers lose control over the vehicle on sloppy stretches. There should be some speed beakers on such stretches to check the speed, Murugan, Mathrushree Granite's’ employee says. Several businessmen of the area held similar views.

“Tender was awarded to Fairoz to chop 13 trees six months ago. He has deposited around Rs 60,000 for the same, but no tree has been chopped so far. Branches of these trees obstruct the drivers’ view of the road. Morever, there is nearly 10 feet gap between the trees and the footpath. Motorists use this space to park their vehicles,” Saneerappa of the police station said.

“There is acute shortage of human resources. Ours is a grade ‘C’ station covering Jnanabharathi and Kamakshipalya police stations. We have submitted a proposal to convert the station into an A grade. We need additional four sub inspectors, six assistant sub inspectors, 15 head constables and 25 police constables,” he added.