Hyderabad: The faulty design of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) pillars across Hyderabad is responsible for the rise in road accidents. This year alone, there have been seven accidents that occurred after the barricades were removed on completion of the work.
The city police say the pillars and stairways for the Metro rail system occupy a lot of road space, squeezing vehicles into smaller spaces and causing accidents and also inconveniencing the public.
The vehicle in which the son of AP health minister Narayana and his friend lost their lives on Jubilee Hills.
Hyderabad Traffic Police has listed 80 spots in the city that are accident prone. The list is based on occurrence of accidents for a variety of reasons such as drunk driving, speeding, negligent driving, driving on the wrong side and so on.
Areas like Tarnaka Road, Jubilee Hills Road and Yousufguda are among those marked as accident prone because of the blind corners caused by Metro pillars.
The roads in these areas have narrowed down to accommodate the pillars. Barricades were removed on the Jubilee Hills stretch three months back and this has become a major cause of accidents.
M. Vinod Kanumula of the Indian Federation of Road Safety said that in developed countries such pillars are constructed on the side of the road whereas in Hyderabad, they are built in the middle which is a problem as they are unevenly placed.
Hyderabad Traffic Police Deputy Commissioner, A.V. Ranganath, says, “The Metro pillars have become an obstacles and accident hazards in parts of the city. The Metro should have acquired more land in those areas and realigned the roads.”
He gave the example of Jubilee Hills where a minister,s son was killed. “The road could have been widened that would have avoided the accident. Now, it is impossible to realign the roads. We have to come up with other measures to curb accidents."
The pillars create blind spots that are dangerous for commuters not familiar with the place, especially at night. The gaps between the road shortens as the pillars are placed in the middle narrowing and dividing the road into two. The sudden narrowing of the road and sudden curves on roads created by the Metro pillars leave less time for the driver to react as there are no signs or indication for the obstruction ahead.
Mr Ranganath said two teams will go around the city to identify areas made dangerous because of the pillars. Necessary measures will then be put in place such as building speed breakers and fixing rumblers at required junctions.
Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, V Ravinder, said that 40-odd spots in Hyderabad city have been identified as accident prone and what are called ‘object hazard markers’ will be put up there. These are retro-reflective stickers that will warn commuters from a distance of a possible hazard.
