Accident on yet-to-open Dwarka Expressway claims woman's life

GURGAON: A 56-year-old woman from Delhi died and four of her family members suffered injuries when the Swift Dzire in which they were travelling collided head-on with a car being driven on the wrong side of the Dwarka Expressway.

The accident happened around 9.30am on Sunday in front of AVL Society in Sector 36. Although the Dwarka Expressway's city section is nearly ready, it is yet to be opened to commuters. But people use the road anyway to avoid making detours when they travel between the new sectors and NH-8 and paying toll at Kherki Daula. On the same expressway lane, as a result, high speed traffic moves in both directions.
Tanuj Arya, who drives a cab for a living, was returning to their home in Delhi''s Rohini from Gurgaon with his mother Monika, father Narendra and wife Shikha. They had just taken the expressway when the car on the wrong side crashed into Tanuj's Dzire.
"I could not spot the car because it came all of a sudden. The driver had not switched on the indicators either," Tanuj said in his complaint. Monika was in the passenger seat. She suffered injuries in the head and died during treatment at a hospital.
The driver of the car on the wrong side and another person with him were injured too. An FIR was registered against the driver at Sector 37 police station under sections 279 (whoever drives any vehicle, or rides, on any public way in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life, or to be likely to cause hurt or injury to any other person), 304A (causing death by negligence), and 337 (whoever causes hurt to any person by doing any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life, or the personal safety of others) of the IPC and Section 177 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
Police said they were checking CCTV footage on the stretch. "We haven't made any arrests yet. We are scanning CCTV footage to ascertain the sequence of events," said Aman, the SHO of Sector 37 police station.
Residents living in societies off the expressway warned that more such accidents would happen if NHAI and the traffic police did not take corrective measures immediately to stop wrong-side driving.
Three weeks ago, NHAI closed down a loop that allows people to get on to the Dwarka Expressway from NH-8. An alternative - Pataudi Road - is also closed for the past two months. "So, the only option for people is to pass the Kherki Daula toll plaza and make a long detour. Commuters unwilling to do that resort to wrong-side driving. NHAI and the traffic police must open the loop," said Ivan Singh, who lives in Sector 92.
"The loop is ready, but why is NHAI not opening it? It has also not merged the Dwarka Expressway with NH-8 near Narsinghpur. Wrong-side driving is a menace there too," said Madan Kumar of Sector 86.
NHAI officials told TOI they were trying to expedite "the remaining work" so that the expressway could be opened at the earliest.
On Monday morning, ACP traffic (west) Akhil Kumar and other cops visited the accident spot along with road safety officers (RSOs) and issued challans to those found driving on the wrong side. "We will talk to NHAI and ask them to allow traffic on this loop so that people are not forced to pay toll and they do not end up driving on the wrong side too," said a senior traffic official.