The proposal by the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) to ban two-wheelers on the Electronics City Expressway is based on the fact that bikers involved in accidents were killed more due to being thrown off the flyover than the accident itself. Over the last two years, at least three bikers have been killed after falling off the flyover following accidents on the expressway.
This is because while most expressways are six-lane flyovers, the Electronics City one is a four-lane flyover with an overall width of just 15 metres.
This is in addition to drivers of four-wheelers going above the 80 kmph speed limit on the flyover.
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“In all cases where the bikers have fallen off the flyover, the bikes were hit from the rear by four-wheelers,” said Abhishek Goyal, DCP (Traffic East).
Urban commute expert Prof. M.N. Srihari said the combination of a narrow flyover, speeding four-wheelers and slower two-wheelers, and a curve in the design results in centrifugal force, leading to vehicle being thrown off the flyover. “One of the fixes could be to raise the edge of the flyover to prevent a fall,” he said. However, he said banning two-wheelers on the expressway is a good idea.
Though an earlier proposal to ban two-wheelers around the time the flyover opened to traffic had met with stiff opposition, many two-wheeler users who take the expressway regularly now agree that it is ‘unsafe’.
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M.V.L. Manikantan, a marketing professional who travels to Electronics City, said the flyover is often unsafe for bikers and he avoids it when on a two-wheeler. Another biker, Puneeth C., said that overspeeding cars and the wind speeds render it unsafe for bikes and welcomed a ban on two-wheeler traffic.
Opposition continues
But not everyone is convinced. Deepak Swamy, a techie who works in a firm in Cyber Park in Electronics City and travels by bike from Sanjaynagar, said using the expressway enables him to cover the distance in 20 minutes, as opposed to more than an hour by the road below. “The infrastructure cannot be reserved only for cars. If overspeeding cars is an issue, the solution is to enforce the speed limit with an iron hand, not ban bikes,” he argued adding that the road below is a national highway with heavy vehicle and truck traffic, which is also not safe for bikes.
N.S. Rama, CEO, Electronics City Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA), welcomed a ban, but said it causes much inconvenience to two-wheeler users. “Traffic police need to provide alternate arrangements for bikers on the highway below. May be a dedicated lane for bikes on either side of the highway would be a workable solution,” she suggested.
Ban likely to be challenged
The Electronics City Elevated Expressway is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project built on BOOT model. It is a tolled road built by Bangalore Elevated Tollways Limited (BETL) in collaboration with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The expressway opened in 2010. The toll for a two-way ride by two wheelers is ₹25. This is part of the concessionaire agreement, which governs the administration of the expressway.
A spokesperson of BETL said that a ban on two-wheelers couldn’t be done through an executive order but an amendment to the concessionaire agreement and a separate notification. “If two-wheelers are banned, the revenue interests of the concessionaire will be impacted, which will have to be compensated,” sources said.
However, the BETL spokesperson said that it is up to NHAI to take objection.
Accidents where bikers fell off the flyover
October 14, 2017: Zaheer Hussain, 47, and his relative Mohammed Fakruddin, 37, were thrown off the flyover after a cab hit their bike from the rear
August 7, 2016: Shailas Jaikumar, a pillion rider, was thrown off the flyover after a car hit the bike. The bike rider Tirupati Reddy was crushed to death on the flyover