A KSRTC bus going from Chamarajanagar to Mysore veered off the road and hit the road guard, stopping short of plunging into the Dalvoy Lake on the Mysore–Nanjangud Road on Tuesday. None of the 23 passengers were injured.
The accident occurred when the bus driver tried to avoid an oncoming vehicle. However, as the road was narrow, the bus hit the road guard and veered off the road.
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The accident has underscored the imperatives of expediting the widening of the Mysore–Nanjangud highway, which has very high traffic density. In view of frequent accidents and increasing traffic density, reckoned to be in excess of 18,000 passenger car units (PCU) per day, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is converting the road to four lanes.
The NHAI plans to increase the carriage width and a portion of the road will also be realigned to minimise the radius of the curve. Crash guards will be installed along the lake.
It will be part of the upgrading of 131 km of NH 212 between Moolehole in Bandipur to Uttamballi near Kollegal.
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The stretch is a motorist’s nightmare because of the narrow carriage width, high traffic density and curves apart from three major lakes — Dalvoy Lake, Undabattikere and Shettikere — hugging the road. Drivers tend to be oblivious to the danger of overtaking as they do not see the water, only the weeds.
Thirty people died in December 2010 when a bus carrying a marriage party plunged into Undabattikere under similar circumstances.