Accidents on Sarjapur Road worry residents

Claim two lives in fatal zone near Kaikondrahalli Lake

By SHILPI SAHU
Recently, residents of Purva Sunshine apartment woke up to an absurd sight of a car tipped into the storm water drain facing them. A couple of years ago, children came out to board their school bus only to find a two-wheeler rider, a hit-and-run victim, breathing his last. Fast forward to the present, in less than a week, there have been three separate fatal/critical hit and run accidents in front of their apartment on Sarjapur Road, near Kaikondrahalli-Sarjapur junction. Two of the victims have expired due to fatal injuries. There is no information available about the 3rd victim who survived.

Despite a spate of deaths and accidents on Outer Ring Road, Sarjapur Road has been in much worse condition. Most stretches of the road from Carmelaram to Iblur have high population density, scores of apartment complexes, international schools, hundreds of commercial properties and an upcoming tech park, but lack footpaths, adequate lighting and drainage. They also have to suffer bottle necks that result in frequent mishaps by speeding vehicles. There have been more pedestrian accidents over the years than residents of Purva Sunshine can count. The road is a major connector to Sarjapur village, Hosur and Electronic City, but infrastructure is far behind where it should be to support the commercial growth that is taking place in recent years.

Walking and crossing the road is a nightmare at any time of the day. Residents need basic safety for pedestrians. When will BBMP and the traffic police wake up? How many people will have to die before any action is taken? They need to look at immediate measures to make accident prone stretches such as these less dangerous for pedestrians.

Some of the measures could be the following:
* Barricade medians/stretches of road except designated pedestrian crossing
* Clear up garbage and debris from existing footpaths and make them safe and walkable
* At designated pedestrian crossings along the road, the authorities can appoint a traffic warden or cop
* Remove bushes and hoardings affecting visibility on the median near all pedestrian crossings.
* Curtail and heavily penalise wrong side driving

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