The Electronics City Elevated Expressway, when opened to the public in January 2010, promised to provide a faster and signal-free corridor for motorists. But the 9.98 km expressway has been racking up a high count of fatalities, with the most recent being the deaths of two software engineers in separate accidents on Friday.
In the first incident, Sharath Kumar Reddy, a 28-year-old software engineer working in Infosys, plummeted from the elevated expressway after his two-wheeler rammed into the retaining wall. He was heading to his house in Madiwala after work, said the police.
“He lost control of his bike and rammed into the retaining wall in a bid to take a turn at the lay-bay on the flyover. The moment the bike hit the wall, Sharath was flung from his bike. He fell over the retaining wall to the road below and died on the spot,” police said.
In another incident, a 38-year-old software engineer was killed after his car hit the retaining wall near the EC-2 lane. The deceased, Rajesh Jacob was taking a turn towards the phase-2 down ramp lane when he lost control. He collided with the wall, the impact of which crushed the front portion of the car.
Rajesh was taken to a private hospital where he succumbed to his injuries around 5.40 p.m. The police later summoned a crane to pull out the car, which was towed to the police station.
According to the police, Rajesh, a software engineer with IMB, was on his way to Electronics City from Bellandur to pick up his wife, who also works in an IT firm. “The deceased attempted to take a turn without slowing down his vehicle,” police said.
Both the cases have been registered at the Hulimavu traffic police station for further investigation.
Police want ban on two-wheelers
The Bengaluru city traffic police have been contemplating banning two-wheelers on the Electronics City Elevated Expressway for at least a year now. But the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the agency responsible for the project, has not replied to multiple letters from the traffic police on the issue, say senior police officers.
R. Hitendra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said that the flyover is narrow and there is no way to check motorists from speeding. There also seems to be some issue with the road geometry since accidents on this particular flyover sees bikers being thrown off the elevated expressway, killing them on the spot, he said. “As the flyover is very narrow, we cannot place our interceptors on the flyover to check speed. We requested for installation of speed cameras, which has also not been done. Even the cameras will only help us send challans, and not monitor motorists who are speeding,” he said.
Previous accidents
January 2018: Software engineer killed after colliding with a stationary car
October 2017: Biker and pillion rider fell from the flyover after their two-wheeler was hit by a car
May 2017: 28-year-biker hit the retaining wall of the flyover and fell down to road below
