Bengaluru’s three expressways are increasingly becoming death traps for vehicle users. Alarmed by the frequency of crashes on these access-controlled highways, the traffic police have suggested speed regulation measures and infrastructural changes to make them safer.
The expressways (Ballari Road, Electronics City and Tumakuru Road) reported a total of 45 accidents, including 11 fatal ones, in the year gone by.
Ballari Road, which connects the city with the airport in the far north, has been particularly deadly for vehicle users. Since 2018, it has seen more accidents than the other two expressways combined. In 2021 alone, 35 accidents took place on the expressway, killing eight people and injuring 44 others. In contrast, the Electronics City expressway reported six accidents (one fatal) and Tumakuru Road four accidents (two fatal) during the same period.
So what makes these expressways — Ballari Road, in particular — such a death trap?
Traffic police chief B R Ravikanthe Gowda gives two reasons: speeding and infrastructural defects.
One of the common patterns to accidents on Ballari Road, he says, is of speeding vehicles ploughing into the median and crashing on the other lane, setting up head-on collisions with oncoming vehicles.
This, Gowda says, happens because, unlike other expressways, Ballari Road doesn’t have medians that are strong or tall enough to withstand vehicle hits. There is no vegetation in the middle of the road either. As a result, drivers encounter a lot of glare during night hours. If someone going on the left lane gets pulled towards the right a little, the driver on the other lane steers in the same direction thinking there is space, instead of pushing the brakes. The vehicle that goes out of control climbs over the median and falls over to the other side, he explained.
Savitha BS, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, North), has similar concerns about the airport expressway. “The speed limit on expressways is 80 kilometres per hour. However, in a hurry to get to the airport, most drivers step on the gas and reach 100 kilometres or more per hour, “ she said.
On the stretch after the Cafe Coffee Day outlet in Yelahanka, drivers speed up like anything. Chikkajala and Yelahanka stretches of the highway are speeding hotspots, she added.
Another senior traffic officer feels drivers should be responsible enough to follow the speed limits especially because accidents can take place within a fraction of a second on expressways.
“By the time drivers even realise that they have to slow down and apply the brakes, the accident would have happened,” the officer said.
Gowda, the traffic top cop, believes manual police intervention is impossible on expressways.
The Bengaluru traffic police have now written to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which develops and maintains all three expressways, asking for implementing speed regulation measures and infrastructural changes. It also submitted a 200-page report detailing the situation.
Among the suggestions include installing cameras that can gauge the speed of moving vehicles. The cameras will record the exact time when a vehicle enters the expressway and the time when it exists it. If the vehicle takes less time than is necessary, the driver will be penalised.
“We have analysed and identified the elements missing on the three expressways as per the standards of the Indian Road Congress (IRC). We have given a report along with photographs and geotags of the locations. If the NHAI does not act on it and any more accidents happen because of that, we will name it in the FIR,” Gowda said.
An NHAI officer confirmed receiving the report and said it had been sent to the higher authorities. “Once we get the clearance, we’ll implement most of the measures suggested by the traffic police,” the officer said.
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