Safety of commuters on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) has thrown a fresh challenge for the police with 38 road accident deaths reported in the past 20 months on the stretch.
Forty persons also sustained injuries during this period in road accidents. While majority of the accidents were reported on the ORR, some also occurred on the radial and service roads connected to it.
So far, only 85 km. of the nearly 150 km. ORR stretch has been opened to traffic. “Once the remaining ORR is complete, apparently the road accidents graph would go up further which is a cause of concern for us,” the police said.
Multiple factors are responsible for accidents on this road –a prestigious project that hoped to ease congestion in central parts of the city- although high-speed driving is said to be the prime reason.
The accident resulting in death of film actor Kota Srinivasa Rao's son in June last year is one example. He was riding a 1,000 cc bike.
The latest accident, in which former Indian skipper Mohd. Azharuddin's son suffered critical wounds while the pillion rider got killed, is yet another example of high speed driving, the police say. Driving at 100 km per hour is rated as going slow and many are seen zooming at a minimum speed of 120 kmph, Shamshbad police say.
At that speed, drivers sometimes get confused when someone honks from behind.
“There are cases when the vehicle in front shifts lanes to the right or left, and the vehicle behind rams into it failing to assess which lane it would enter,” the police said.
Three persons travelling in a car had got killed at Shamshabad on ORR earlier. “The flow of traffic is uni-directional on ORR. Somehow, the car driver entered the stretch from the other side of the median only to be hit by an oncoming lorry,” Shamshabad ACP, Ch. Srinivas, said. Though two-wheelers are banned on ORR, many bike riders too take this road.
To check this, police have decided to set up out-posts but are worried of being hit by speeding four-wheelers, as there is no space earmarked to erect the out-posts. With much difficulty, they managed to locate two points. Ibrahimpatnam ACP, T. Ram Prasada Rao, said the points where the radial and service road join the main ORR too were becoming vulnerable for accidents with vehicle drivers failing to take precautions.
He said the police were trying to co-ordinate with the authorities concerned to install sign boards, and speed-breakers at some points.
