A youth died on the spot after the two-wheeler he was riding was hit by a car on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway near Kenchattahalli, triggering a protest by the residents on Monday afternoon.
The victim has been identified as Ravi Kumar (26), son of Rangaswamy, resident of Kenchattahalli. He was returning to his village from Hassan, when the car hit his vehicle while negotiating a turn from the highway to his village.
According to his relatives, Mr. Kumar’s marriage had been fixed recently and he had gone to the place of the bride to finalise the marriage date. Keshav, driver of the car that hit the two-wheeler, was also injured in the accident. He has been admitted to Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences.
Meanwhile, as the news of the accident reached the village, the relatives of the victim and other residents gathered on the highway, condemning the accident. They blamed the lack of underpasses and flyovers at places where the highway joined the roads that connect villages on either side. They criticised the National Highway Authority of India for not putting in place any safety measures to prevent accidents. Vehicles on the highway were stopped for a few minutes as the protesters blocked it.
The protest was withdrawn only after the police promised that they would appeal to the departments concerned to put in place safety measures.
