Five people were killed in their sleep in the most gruesome manner. Three more are grappling with death in the intensive care ward of a corporate hospital. The location of this gory accident is not some small sleepy village on a national highway, but the Benz Circle in the heart of the city.
The reason for this accident in which five persons were killed on the spot and 14 others suffered injuries is failure of the traffic police.
The intersection of two national highways – NH 5 and NH 9 – Benz Circle is the busiest and the most dangerous junction in Coastal Andhra Pradesh.
The NH-9 which runs from Hyderabad to Machilipatnam joins NH-5 which runs from Chennai to Howrah at the end of Kanakadurgamma Vaaradhi and come to Benz Circle.
Here the two national highways part and go to their respective destinations Kolkata (NH-5) and Machilipatnam (NH-9).
Thousands of heavy vehicles cross the circle. Traffic constables man the circle round-the-clock.
Around eight constables control the traffic during the day time and three control it during night after peak hours.
The driver of the bus travelling at speeds above 100 k.m. per hour from Hyderabad did not see any reason to slow down at this most dangerous traffic circle.
The rusted traffic barricades that are used to slow down the traffic during day are a liability and danger in the dark because they do not have any reflective paint and are invisible.
There have been many accidents in which two-wheeler drivers have run into these barricades and suffered grievous injuries.
Apparently, these barricades did not serve any purpose on the fateful night.
The failure of the barricades notwithstanding, the constables too did not bother to slow down the speeding bus which swerved dangerously to the left to avoid collision with a two-wheeler coming from N.T.R. Circle.
The top heavy bus tipped over to the left and fell on people who were allowed to sleep in such a dangerous spot again by the local police. The roads are getting better for the vehicles to move faster, but the precautions needed to prevent accidents are not a priority either of the Government or the administrators.
Benz Circle will continue to be a dangerous junction as long as no steps are taken to reduce the speed of vehicles from Skew Bridge itself.
How many more accidents are needed to make this evident, one needs to wait and see.
