Though not allowed to use the eight-lane Outer Ring Road (ORR), two-wheeler riders have been taking to it given the absence of a mechanism to stop them. The authorities who have thrown open nearly 85 km of the 158-km-long ORR for traffic at present have neither toll gates nor security at the entry/exit points.
The accident involving Ayazuddin, son of former cricketer Mohd. Azharuddin, near Poppulguda toll gate on Sunday morning was not the first accident involving a two-wheeler.
Last year, Kota Prasad, son of veteran film actor, Kota Srinivasa Rao, riding a sports bike met a tragic end in an accident on the stretch.
The process of setting up toll gates, that apart from collecting prescribed user fee would serve the purpose of screening the vehicles that enter the ORR, has been in the tendering process. Meanwhile, there is no one to man the entry and exit point giving a free rein to two-wheeler riders.
Not that only the two-wheelers were prone to accidents on the smooth-surfaced stretch that rolls out without a bump or a speed breaker, but even cars have been involved in accidents.
The temptation to over-speed given the road conditions could end in a drive to disaster given the absence of police patrol vehicles or means to monitor and check the speed on the ORR which has been designed for speeds up to 120 kmph.
The road could well serve the purpose of providing solutions to traffic problems in the city and facilitating faster movement of vehicle outside the suburbs but absence of necessary screening and monitoring of the stretch holds the potential of it turning into a highly accident prone zone.
The authorities have proposed setting up field equipment that include 38 vehicle detector sets, 41 CCTV camera sets, 330 emergency call boxes and other traffic related equipment such as speed guns for a safe and comfortable drive on the ORR.
However, an official said that they could only try to streamline the traffic but not stop a driver from speeding. “We will be putting caution boards along the road but on such long stretches, there is no way a driver can be forced to travel within the speed limits,” he said.
