It is terrible to know of people losing lives in accidents. What if we know which areas are accident-prone? We could try avoiding those routes, or at least be careful while passing through the area.

In this background, Citizen Matters tried to compile a list of top ten areas that are most accident-prone in Bengaluru. We also tried to understand why the accidents are more at these places and what is being done to solve the problems. We took into consideration the total number of accident cases over the last three years to come up with top 10 list.

Over the last three years, a total of 4191 accidents have been registered in Bangalore city, about 60% of which occurred in Bangalore West, and the remaining (about 40%) in Bangalore East.

While pedestrians crossing the roads on signal free roads and potholes topped the chart, there seemed to be no coordination among Traffic Police and other agencies on identifying the accident spots and solving the problem. Most police who spoke to us were unable to point out the exact spots where accidents occur, and improvements required. Here’s what we came up with.

Madivala Traffic Police Station limits

Madivala tops the list of accident prone areas in Bengaluru. In Rupena Agrahara, which has many garment factories on both sides of the road, there is a kilometre long signal-free stretch, on one side of which is the elevated flyover lowering down to the road and on the other side raises the Silk Board flyover. Vehicles coming down one of these flyovers enter this stretch at high speed before climbing over the other. Many factory workers and school children often cross this stretch of road. This has been one of the major reasons for accidents in this area.

The total number of accidents here, which was 366 in 2012 and 331 in 2013, has been reduced to 234 in 2014. The reason for this drastic drop in accidents, says Rudresh S N,  a staff at Madivala traffic police station, are certain measures taken by the Madivala traffic police.

According to him,

• Madivala police identified such spots and put up sign boards warning the drivers, in such accident-prone spots.
• Over 100 speed breakers were installed to control over-speeding
• High mast lights were installed over the junctions to avoid poor visibility after dusk.
• Zebra crossings were painted at suitable places, with sign boards erected on either side.
• The police fenced the centre median of the road to prevent pedestrians from crossing wherever they wish.
• In the evenings, traffic police were assigned at the junction of two flyovers, who would stop the vehicles from time to time to allow pedestrians to cross the road safely.

Peenya Traffic Police Station limits

Kempegowda arch on the ring road, police station signal, Jalahalli cross, 8th mile signal, and the stretch of the  road opposite to Parle factory are the most accident prone areas in the jurisdiction of Peenya police station, according to M H Basavaraj, Assistant Sub-inspector.

Majority of the accidents occurring here are caused by pedestrians crossing the highway. “We had asked BBMP, and in case of ring road, the BDA, to construct a subway or a pedestrian skywalk many times back in 2008-09, when the road laying was still underway. Every time we raised the request we were told that it will be built. But nothing was done and the road is complete now,” says Basavaraj.

Electronic City Traffic Police Station limits

In the year 2012 as well as in 2014, highest number of fatal accidents in Bengaluru occurred in Electronic city. “36 out of the 55 fatal accidents last year have happened on the Hosur main road,” says Inspector Mohammad M A  from Electronic City Police station.

Apart from Hosur Road and NICE Road, there are hardly any serious accidents happening in the interiors of Electronic City, according to Inspector Mohammad. “But unfortunately, on these two roads we do not have sufficient authority to enforce the necessary rules to reduce the accidents,” he adds.

The National Highway (NH) authorities, who are in charge of Hosur Road, have assigned the maintenance of the 32 km stretch of this road from Electronic city to Madivala, to Bangalore Elevated Toll Ltd. There is no permission to install signals or speed breakers on this road which has resulted in increased accidents. Similarly on NICE Road, agreements prevent police from penalising vehicles that exceed the speed.

“Apart from these places, there are hardly any serious accidents happening in the interiors of electronic city,” Mohammad adds.

CCTV footage of the accident that took place in Hebbal, where a water tanker killed two people.

Yeshwanthpur Traffic Police Station limits

Accidents on the 1.5 km-long stretch of Tumkur Road, just down the Yeshwanthpur flyover, make up for the majority of cases registered at Yeshwanthpur Traffic Police Station. The relatively smooth road of NH7 is freckled in this area with deep and wide potholes which are difficult to spot on time while riding fast, thus causing accidents.

Pedestrians who climb over the median and hop on to the other side of the National Highway have often caught drivers by surprise, resulting in many accidents. Reckless riding, drunk driving and over-speeding are other serious concerns expressed by Yeshwanthpur Traffic Police.

“About six months ago, Yeshwanthpur Traffic Police Station has suggested the Commissioner’s office to take the required measures to install fence over the centre median of Tumkur Road and also along the sidewalks to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road in places where the zebra crossings are not marked,” said a policeman at the station who wanted to remain anonymous.

K R Puram Traffic Police Station limits

K R Puram, though ranking 5th in number of accidents, has the highest number of fatal accidents over the last three years. Ajay M R,  Inspector of K R Puram Traffic Police Station says that it is not possible to point out to one main reason for the highest fatality in this area. “A number of factors, including over-speeding, high traffic density and abrupt lane changing by vehicles, have been causing fatal accidents in this area,” he adds.

In a bid to reduce the accidents in this area, the K R Puram Traffic Police have closed many openings in the centre median, where vehicles are likely to take a sudden right turn or U-turn, causing the fast traffic on the other side to lose control. “Painting pedestrian crossings on the road and improving the enforcement of rules are other measures we have taken,” Ajay says.

Byatarayanapura Traffic Police Station limits

There are no particular spots in this area where accidents happen frequently, except near the Nayandahalli flyover which is under construction,” said Traffic Inspector, Mohan J. “But the construction will be complete by the end of this month, and we are hoping that will reduce the number of accidents as well as free the junction below by diverting 70% of the traffic above the flyover.”

Over the past three years, the number of accidents in this area has been dropping continuously from 306 in 2012 to 201 in 2013 to 127 last year. The reason for this drop, he said, is an increase in effort from the Traffic Police department to target over-speeding two-wheelers, which is often the main cause for accident.

Kamakshipalya Traffic Police Station limits

“While accidents in general have been occurring all over Kamakshipalya, the fatal ones and those leading to severe injuries have been happening only on the Summanahalli Flyover,” says H Chandrashekar, Assistant Sub-Inspector at Kamakshipalya Police station.

Reasons for accidents are:

• Vehicles entering from the service road often collide with cars travelling at high speed on the flyover. Though the police have installed speed-breakers before exits and entrances, with a go slow board warning the drivers about the hump, many do not see the board and speed-breakers on time, and brake suddenly at the last moment, causing the vehicle behind to crash into their own.
• Pedestrians walk on main road as sidewalks are covered with garbage dumps and unchecked parthenium growth.
• The down ramp from Nagarbhavi to Summanahalli has many dangerous potholes. Those who are not familiar with these roads come barging down the ramp at high speed and land their two-wheelers in the potholes. Result could be fatal. Many try to avoid potholes by veering their vehicles left or right and collide with other vehicles. Some riders who lose control while skidding and fall from their two-wheelers have been run over by the other speeding vehicles.

The Traffic Inspectorof the area, Niranjan Kumar, has reportedly approached the BDA asking them to repair these roads. The pictures of problem areas were shared, and the officials were made to visit the spots. “But we are always told there is no sanction for the BDA to act. Apart from occasional patch work done using cement, the BDA has done nothing. If BDA does its job correctly, many lives can be saved and injuries avoided,” Chandrashekar  adds.

An educational video by Bengaluru Traffic Police on how jumping signals causes accidents. Courtesy: BTP

Yelahanka Traffic Police Station limits

According to Mohan Kumar, Traffic Inspector at Yelahanka Police Station, accidents in Yelahanka area are spread across the whole area. There was an increase in accidents on the elevated flyover connecting to airport due to over-speeding. “But we have brought it under control by imposing strict lane discipline. Vehicles travelling at 80 kmph must stay on the right, those driving at 60 kmph in the middle and 40 kmph on the left,” he adds.

The police are not allowing heavy vehicles on the flyover during the peak hours: between 8am-11am and 4pm- 8pm. When they are allowed, the heavy vehicles have to drive between 50-60 kmph, and stick to the middle lane, failing which the drivers will be fined Rs.100 by the traffic policemen deployed to monitor speeds and lane discipline.

Whitefield Traffic Police Station limits

The Whitefield Traffic Police mentioned movement of heavy vehicles and high traffic density as the primary reasons of accidents in this area. Accidents here are spread all over the area, with no particular accident-prone spot.

R T Nagar Traffic Police Station limits

Thimme Gowda, Constable at RT Nagar Traffic police station, says most accidents in this area are caused on the cross roads than on main roads. Even the main roads are narrow, with a continuously increasing traffic density.

• Roads must be widened.
• Skywalks must be built to allow pedestrians to cross the roads
• Strict measures must be taken to ensure that BMTC buses stop only at bus stops to the extreme left, and not in the middle of the road.
• Works on roads dug up by BBMP must be completed quickly, and patched up properly as soon as the work is complete.

Banaswadi Traffic Police Station limits

Although Banaswadi does not make it in the list of top ten most accident prone areas in Bangalore city, it warrants a mention because if total accidents causing spot death (fatal cases) over the past three years are considered, Banaswadi ranks 6th. Around 60% of the accidents in this area are concentrated on the ring road. Most of the other accidents occur on the Banaswadi Road and Hennur road.

M Srinivas, sub-inspector at the Banaswadi traffic police station, pointed out that here, as in case of most other areas, the most important reason behind the high number of accidents is the pedestrians crossing the ring road amidst the fast moving heavy vehicles on the signal free corridor between K R Puram to Hebbal.

“BBMP has already built a skywalk in Kammanahalli. Two more, one in Kalyan Nagar and one in Babusapalya, will be built soon,” he says.

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