Flower pots on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, experts flag safety risk

NOIDA: The way the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is being beautified ahead of the G20 summit is likely to pose a threat to the safety of commuters.
The Noida Authority has placed cemented flower pots along the crash guards that potentially pose a threat to the high-speed vehicles moving on the 25km highway.
According to experts, in the event of an accident, commuters can get severely injured as the crash guard is meant to act as a cushion .
"There should be no obstruction between the road and crash barriers. It's a safety hazard to place large flower pots in front of the crash barriers. In case a driver dozes off while driving or loses control over the vehicle and hits any other obstruction other than the crash barrier, the impact on the driver and the passengers can be serious," said Dr S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division, CSIR-CRRI, Delhi.
Vaibhav Gupta, who owns a construction company, also maintained that the placement of the flower pots can prove dangerous to motorists.
"Many people won't even notice it, but the placement of the flower pots can be dangerous, as the impact of hitting them at high speed can be disastrous," added Gupta, who regularly travels through the expressway.
Commuters urged the Noida Authority to remove these flower pots from the expressway. "The flower pots have been placed very close to the road, which makes it risky as not only cars, but two-wheelers can also hit them. Since these pots are heavy, injuries will also be severe. The Noida Authority should think of another way to create green space and beautify the expressway," said Sumit Singh, who is a doctor in Noida.
Keeping in mind the safety concerns, Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari has directed the officials to replace these flower pots with flower beds. "Following the instructions from the CEO, the flower pots on the expressway will be replaced with flower beds, which will be visible to the commuters and will not have any safety-related issues. The flower beds will come up at a gap of every 100 metres. The tenders for the work have been awarded and on some of the stretches, the work has even started," said K V Singh, the senior manager at Noida Authority.