Considered the most secure area in the national Capital, New Delhi district does not figure in the list of accident prone zones of the city, but the facts and figures present a different picture altogether!
There has been a spate of accidents in the district, including some fatal ones, in the recent past. In Parliament Street area, seven accidents were reported in 2013 while three fatalities have been reported in the area till May 31 this year. In Tilak Marg area, one of the busiest stretches in the city, ten mishaps were reported last year while four accidents have been reported this year.
Significantly, Delhi Traffic Police have identified 125 accident-prone locations in the Capital but none of the intersections or stretches in New Delhi district figure in the list.
Senior officials said despite some accidents reported here, the frequency of fatalities is lesser than on other deadly stretches and hence New Delhi district has not been termed vulnerable.
Out of the 125 accident-prone zones identified, ten locations have been identified as ‘black spots’ given the frequency of accidents and the faulty road design and engineering.
The black spots include ISBT Kashmere Gate, Punjabi Bagh Chowk, Mukarba Chowk, AIIMS, Bilaspur Chowk (GTK), ISBT Anand Vihar, Mahipalpur Chowk, Dhaula Kuan, Rajokri Flyover and Ghazipur red light.
However, contrary to police claims, the Prithviraj Road - Aurobindo Marg intersection, where Gopinath Munde’s car was hit on Tuesday, is one of the most vulnerable intersections in New Delhi district. What makes this intersection accident-prone is its present design. It is practically impossible for motorists coming from Prithviraj Road to see the traffic coming from the opposite direction on Aurobindo Marg until they reach the intersection. The hedges on the sides of the road and dividers further impair visibility on the intersection.
“Until a vehicle doesn’t reach the red light the other vehicles are not visible which is why most of the time vehicles brush against each other,” said a police official.
Another factor that aggravates the situation in New Delhi district is that the area houses a large number of five-star hotels and embassies. “Taxi drivers often tend to overspeed in order to drop guests to the airport or to pick them up. Also, call centre cabs that travel on this route are in a hurry to drop the employees back home and heavy goods vehicles too are in a rush to get out of the city before the restricted time leading to mishaps,” an official said.
“In the morning the area is so empty that the drivers speed up without looking. The traffic light at this junction is already set on the blinker mode from midnight to 6 am and after that switches back to normal. Plus the fact that there are no CCTV cameras on this stretch aggravates the situation,” said a traffic police official.
There have been incidents in recent times that suggest that these stretches are not as secure as presented by the traffic police. Supreme Court lawyer and former Solicitor General Harish Salve’s car was involved in an accident at the Rajpath-Mansingh Road crossing earlier in May this year. The accident left the driver of the other vehicle seriously injured. The infamous BMW hit and run case involving Sanjeev Nanda too had occurred at lodhi Road in New Delhi district at night.
In another incident five young lives were lost at lodhi Road crossing near India International Centre when a Maruti car was mowed down by a truck. Pooja, a lively Radio Jockey at MTV and four of her friends died in the accident. Union Minister Eduardo Faleiro’s wife had a horrible accident at the Moti Bagh crossing when she was on her way to the airport.