“It is not road engineering or highway design that led to the accident. It was sheer negligence of the driver,” said a National Highway Authority of India official about the accident on Raigir road near Bhongir in which a route patrolling official was mowed down by a Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) bus on Saturday night.
Venkat Reddy, the official attached to the concessionaire for the NH 163 toll plaza, was trying to help extricate the bodies of two young men whose car was involved in an accident and they were crushed inside their car when he was run over.
“The lorry had slowed down to take a right turn near Sankalp Hotel when the car in which two men were travelling at high speed hit it from behind. Then another SUV hit the car from behind. A few minutes later, when toll plaza officials came to extricate bodies from the car, an RTC bus travelling towards Hanamkonda hit Venkat. The RTC bus took a tumble beside the road. Luckily, none inside the bus was injured,” informed a police official of Bhongir Rural.
Incidentally, the site is not listed as a black spot by NHAI, which, in 2015, identified 71 black spots in Telangana, about 10% of the national total of 700 black spots. Identified spots on national and state highways have multiple markers about dangerous stretches and flashing lights to alert drivers to slow down.
“Our roads are designed for speeds of 100 kmph and the permissible speed is 80 kmph because our roads are not expressways with access controls. Slower vehicles and pedestrians also share the road space. But vehicles regularly exceed speed of 100 kmph, leading to accidents. If they go at 80 kmph, they can apply brakes and avoid accidents. We have people who stop vehicles without going to lay-by, take U turns without indicating and don’t slow down at curves,” said a NHAI project director.
“It is not just roads; we are having problems at toll booths as many vehicles try to zip out of the last lane meant for wide and exempted vehicles. Our guards have been hit by speeding vehicles trying to avoid toll tax. This, despite the fact that the area is well lit with rumble strips, speed bumps and access control,” said the project director.
In August, eight persons were crushed between two trucks at a toll plaza near Medchal.
