Cyber City’s killer bend has witnessed 9 accidents so far this year

A sharp bend near DLF Phase 2 rapid Metro station has emerged as one of the most accident-prone spots in the city, with over nine accidents taking place there so far this year, data from Gurugram police revealed.

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The killer bend’s, located opposite Belvedere Park, latest victim was a 49-year-old man, Alok Gupta, who worked as the chief financial officer (CFO) of an electrical manufacturing company and was killed on Sunday after being hit by a speeding sedan.

Less than 100 metres before the sharp bend, vehicles coming from the carriageway from Golf Course Road through the Sikanderpur underpass, converge with traffic coming from unidirectional MG Road-Cyber City flyover. On both these stretches, vehicles tend to travel at a very high speed.

To make matters worse, just prior to the sharp bend, the carriageway narrows by one lane, often resulting in vehicles suddenly switching lanes at a high speed, often without warning. On the opposite carriageway, vehicles coming from Shankar Chowk and travelling towards MG Road/Golf Course Road also encounter this sharp-bend. However, apart from some rumble strips, there is an absence of other major speed-calming measures or traffic signals on the stretch.

Manu Kalra and Adil Nargolwala, residents of IREO Victory Valley in sector 67 and Beverley Park 2 in Cyber City respectively, both said that they feel unsafe while driving or jogging past this spot and feel there needs to be a system in place for checking speeding vehicles. They added that proper speed-calming measures also need to be introduced at the spot at the earliest.

“Twice, I have had a narrow escape on the stretch. On both occasions, the vehicles were being driven at a high-speed and switched the lanes at the very last moment,” said Kalra.

Nargolwala said that besides engineering changes at the spot, “a heavy presence of traffic police is required, especially during the morning hours to penalise offenders for speeding.”

Sarika Panda Bhatt, road-safety expert and associate director, Nagarro, agreed.

“The sharp-bend at Cyber City is a perfect example of an engineering design blunder. Redesigning the entire bend will not be feasible, nor will it take place on a short-term basis. To control accidents, serious speed calming measures, such as speed breakers should be introduced since rumble strips will make no difference on the stretch as the vehicles tend to travel at a high-speed. In addition, speeding needs to be checked through speed-monitoring cameras. Serious enforcement and introduction of speed-breakers are the best possible quick fix solutions to this crisis,” said Bhatt.

A police team inspected the spot on Monday morning and said that they will be making a few changes. such as installation of speed breakers and putting a speed limit.

“We will write to DLF for constructing speed breakers. We will also deploy a traffic police team to monitor the speed of vehicles. Simultaneously, we are also starting an awareness drive for underage drivers and will involve all schools and parents so that they are careful to not let their children drive. Four police vans will patrol the stretch 24x7,” said Karan Goel, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), DLF.

DLF officials said that they had installed necessary speed-calming measures but speeding, and not road design, is the reason why accidents are taking place at the spot.

“Before the sharp bend, we have constructed rumble strips to check speed. A vehicle travelling at 60-70 kmph can easily make the turn without facing any difficulty. However, the issue on this stretch is high speeding which is leading to accidents. If there was an inherent engineering design fault, then the total number of accidents at the spot would have been much higher. Traffic police need to install cameras at the stretch and fine people to prevent accidents from taking place,” said a spokesperson for DLF.