Visakhapatnam: People who like to take a stroll along the Beach Road, especially the RK Beach-Tenneti Park stretch, are afraid to do so because of frequent races, cases of rash driving, and displays of stunts by young bikers. It is usually college students who indulge in such practices. They drive rashly either for the thrill of it, or to show off to their peers. They chose the Beach Road for their antics because it used to be secluded; but they continue to conduct races there despite the fact that it is now a busy stretch, thus posing a risk to pedestrians.
In February, cops detai-ned 32 persons, most of whom were college students, for racing. They imposed a hefty fine on them and threatened to cancel their licences in case of a repeat offence, but the threats do not seem to have deterred the youngsters. A police vehicle conducts regular patrols along the Beach Road. It has been learnt that the youngsters first check for the location of patrol vehicles before conducting their races. Some members of the group are placed in charge of keeping an eye out for the cops and alerting their mates.
Pradip Mishra, an employee of an IT company, says, “On the weekends I love to spend some time near YMCA, with my kids, after dinner. But I am scared of going there now due to rash driving and stunts. We never know when they will lose control and hit the children playing on the footpath.” Despite the thriving bike menace that police patrols are finding hard to keep track of, the adm-inistration has failed to install CCTV cameras along susceptible stretches.
ADCP (Traffic) K. Mah-endra Patrudu says, “We have identified over 15 locations, including the beach road stretch and the NH-16 stretch, betwe-en Zoo Park and PM Palem, where illegal bike races take place. But a fund crunch has come in the way of our plans. We are chalking out a plan to avail funds for CCTV cameras soon.”
