Motorists, who reguarly use the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru hHghway, say that navigating the stretch is a nightmare. On January 10, six people were killed when a speeding truck carrying crushed stones, hit a median and toppled over two cars and a bike on the highway, was an accident waiting to happen.
The stretch is currently being widened to a 10-lane national highway, work for which is underway in several areas. On each side, lanes have been blocked. “The stretch is like an obstacle course or a ghat section with zig-zags.,” siad one motorist. But that is not the only problem. “To top this, trucks deployed for ongoing road work are usually speeding, which only adds to our dread of the commute,” said another motorist. On Monday too, one such truck while traversing an under-construction patch took a sharp turn, hit the median and fell over vehicles on the adjoining lane killing six.
“There have been many complaints of trucks deployed for road works overspeeding and taking sudden turns on the highway. The way they overspeed and take sharp turns to traverse road blocks, I have myself felt they may topple anytime,” said Suresh Kumar, a resident of Kengeri. In the wake of the tragic accidents, motorists are demanding stricter enforcement. “Police have neither put in place enough restrictions nor are they enforcing speed limits. The way the agency is carrying out road works is also causing a lot of inconvenience. They should try to create minimum disturbance to the traffic as it is a busy highway with not many parallel routes,” said Sundar N., a resident of Kumbalgodu.
A senior police official from the area said they had flagged certain issues with National Highways Authority of India carrying out the work and will soon put in place more restrictions to make it safer for motorists.
