Poor road planning makes Ring Road stretch at Kashmere Gate accident-prone
The stretch of road leading to the tunnel at Kashmere Gate, where a car ran over four pavement dwellers, is a slope, followed by a blind curve. The blind curve enters the tunnel, where a four-foot pavement pops up suddenly.
Samarth Chugh, who killed one homeless man and injured three others in an accident on Thursday, must have been ineligible to drive a car, but there’s one more factor that mustn’t go unnoticed.
The stretch of road near the Kashmere Gate, where the accident happened, remains a constant danger zone to even legal drivers because of its poor engineering.
Thursday’s accident spot is in a small tunnel on that stretch of the Ring Road. A blind curve leading to it means a few motorists know what lies ahead. Since the road leading to the blind curve is a slope, motorists are usually driving at great speeds on that stretch.
“A rumble strip or a speed cushion would ensure that motorists slow down before that blind curve,” a senior traffic police officer said.
As soon as the motorists negotiate the blind curve, they find a four-foot wide pavement appearing suddenly on the right side of the road. The homeless were sleeping on that pavement under the tunnel when the i20 car allegedly ran over them on Thursday.
In the absence of any signboards or warnings about the blind curve or the sudden obstruction on the road ahead, motorists often drive very close to the pavement, leaving the homeless dwellers there under constant threat.