The spot where Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde’s car was hit by another vehicle on Tuesday morning is the second most accident-prone area in the New Delhi district.
According to Delhi Traffic Police data, as many as four fatal accidents have been reported from the zone, which comes under the Tilak Marg circle, till May 15 this year. Last year, 10 fatal accidents were reported from the circle during the same period. The most accident-prone area of the district is the Chanakyapuri circle which saw nine accidents till May 15 last year and an equal number this year.
The accident today took place at the intersection of Prithviraj Road, Safdarjung Road, Tughlaq Road and Aurobindo Marg. According to the traffic police, the traffic light at that intersection was functional like any other time of the day when the accident took place at 6-20 a.m.
“The area usually does not see heavy traffic during the early hours of the morning, therefore we manage with the signals being on the blink from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Policemen come in at 7 a.m. in different circles of the New Delhi area,” said a police officer.
Interestingly, the accident took place between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., when there is neither a policeman deployed at the intersection to check traffic nor are there blinkers. The signal was running at the usual cycle of 30 seconds.
Road safety experts believe that this long traffic cycle is what usually tempts people to jump the signal and this is what must have led to the collision today. “What is the need to have a traffic cycle of 30 seconds when there is no traffic? This will definitely make people jump the signal if they are in hurry. On the contrary, if blinkers are on people will automatically drive carefully given the fact that they will have to keep track of vehicles coming from either side,” said Peeyush Tewari, founder of Save Life Foundation.
“Also, the fact that there are no policemen on the road during early hours gives a freewill to people to drive at whatever speed they want. The solution to this problem is using the technology more effectively. Internationally, there are cameras all over which are functional even in the absence of policemen and people fear that they would be caught by the camera and will get punished,” added Mr. Tewari.
