NICE road has been a boon for South Bengalureans, in achieiving connectivity from Tumkur Road to Hosur Road, especially for the trucks coming from Tumkuru side all the way from Maharashtra and going towards Tamilnadu. This also helps commute within Bengaluru such as from Kengeri to Electronic City, Banashankari to Electronic City etc.
However it has been a death trap due to the enormous number of accidents. This road is not being treated as a highway but as a race track! 100 kmph is the minimum speed maintained on this road by cars. The parking lane on the extreme left is also being used by cars to overtake from the left which many drivers would not expect.
Five years ago, when I was with my grandmother in a hospital, I met a couple who had their son admitted in the same hospital due to multiple fractures. The couple were worried about their son. He along with four of his friends was taking a joy ride on the NICE road in a Swift car at 160 kmph. They could not negotiate a curve and hit straight onto a rock. Two of their friends died on the spot, two were bedridden.
I was recently travelling on the PES link road. I was at 100 kmph whereas a Benz car with temporary registration came and disappeared. Driver was almost at 200 kmph. A small mistake by me would have cost me my life.
We are using NICE road like AutoBahn in Germany. The quality and maturity of drivers in AutoBahn is totally different compared to NICE road. Even in the US, in east coast, most of the Interstate Expressways limit speed to 65 mph which is roughly 110kmph and state highways at 55 mph which is around 85kmph.
Look at the way bike enthusiasts run their bikes to commit suicide:
Kheny, the project proponent, is objecting to monitoring of this stretch by Bangalore Traffic Police. Police are not monitoring it on their own and punishing the offenders too. It has become a rich man’s car race track. Poor bikers (not enthusiasts who come here to die) do travel on this stretch without any safety.
Government of Karnataka must do something or citizens should go to court to restrict speeds on this death trap road.