The spiffy new Signature Bridge in the national Capital has emerged as the new favourite destination for “selfie-lovers”. The four-lane bridge has now become an illegal parking place on both sides. This brazen encroachment by overzealous “selfie seekers” has resulted in space shrunk for motorists. People could be seen dancing on both sides of the bridge with Bollywood songs being played.
The Pioneer team on Friday visited the bridge and revealed that there is no police deployment to keep an eye on these “selfie seekers”. After
two medical students lost their life on Friday in the tragic incident, daily commuters demanded that police should be present to check illegal parking and manage crowd gathered on the bridge.
The bridge which was inaugurated on November 4 — six months before the tentative date — is still undergoing construction work. “Several cables are lying open on the road. Engineers can be seen working but the Government was in a hurry to inaugurate the bridge. God knows why they took this step when the bridge is still incomplete,” Dhanajay Rawat, a commuter, said.
“There are no police check points and personnel to check violation of traffic rules. Even the construction material lying on road is not kept in a proper manner. There are no railing on the side of bridge which is a big risk as people come hang on the cables to take selfies,” another commuter Aditya Okhade said.
“We have seen people getting too close to the edge or climbing over the rails so we try and dissuade them from doing this and inform them that it can endanger their lives,” senior police official at Taimur Nagar police station said.
“From clicking pictures while precariously climbing poles to posing on the parapet, to performing bike stunts, the bridge has become a regular site for people. For now, there is not much traffic chaos but in future if this continues there are several uncalled incident queued up,” Parvesh, a daily commuter said.
Rahul Garg, second-year student of the Delhi University, said he came over very frequently with friends to shoot videos for uploading it on various social media platforms. “I have sensed danger as passing vehicles have very narrow space to cross the bridge because of illegally parked vehicles,” he said. He added it is dangerous to click selfies and shoot video while standing in the middle of the road but still do that due to its location and beauty.
More people die taking selfies in India than any other country in the world, according to a study carried out by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a group of public medical colleges in New Delhi.
The study, published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care in July 2018, reveals that at least 259 people around the world died taking selfies from October 2011 to November 2017 with most of the victims were men under the age of 30.