BRTS Rapidly Turning Into Deadly Speedway

Bhopal: The stretch of Hoshangabad Road falling under Bag Sewania and Misrod police stations right from RRL trisection till Gyarah Meel has turned into one of the most accident-prone areas of Bhopal. The cut points or intersections of the BRTS corridor in these have turned into accident-prone zones. Private vehicles can be seen freely entering and overspeeding right in the BRTS corridor.
Vehicles move in the two lanes on both the sides of the corridor at high speed and when vehicles take turns or try to cross through the cut points, accidents happen. On Tuesday morning, a speeding car running in the BRTS corridor lost control and hit the railing of corridor and rammed into the bus stop bus stop right in front the Misrod police station. Three people including a couple and a woman were injured. One of the women died while the other is critical.
Police officials maintained that earlier there were BMC employees deployed at BRTS cut points and also gates were put up to check unauthorised entry into BRTS corridors. Now these guards were missing so the vehicles enter and overspeed in the corridor. Not only vehicles but stray cattle enter the corridor and increase chances of road accidents. A couple of days before this incident, a stray cattle entered the BRTS corridor in Misrod leading to an accident.
As per traffic police, the 300-metre stretch of Hoshangabad road in front of Ashima Mall in Misrod has been identified as ‘black spot’. Five road accidents took place during the last three years on this stretch and two people lost their lives.
Similarly, the 200-metre stretch of Hoshangabad Road at Bag Sewania Square in front of Bag Sewania police station has been identified by traffic police as another ‘black spot’. Six road accidents took place at this spot during the last three years and one casualty was reported.
Misrod and Bag Sewania areas have been among the top ten most accident-prone zones of Bhopal. Police officials admitted that most of the road accidents take place on Hoshangabad road in these stretches and the cut points of the corridor are a major factor leading to the accidents.
One third of the width of the stretch of Hoshangabad Road from RRL trisection in Bag Sewania till Misrod is covered by the corridor. Two narrow lanes are left for vehicles and the rest of the road is covered by ‘bicycle track’ and service roads. The intersections are located near Misrod police station, in front of Shriram Colony, in front of Surendra Landmark, at Danish Nagar, Vidhya Nagar or Bag Sewania police station, BU and RRL trisection.
Many times, private vehicles can be seen entering the corridor through the cut points. These vehicles pose danger to others as crossing the road. Encroachments in the service lanes on both the sides of the road by commercial establishments is also a major factor for traffic problems. Vehicles remain parked on the service road thereby leaving just a narrow lane for vehicles to pass. Vehicles also enter the wrong lanes.
SHO Misrod RB Sharma said that during evening peak traffic hours, cops are deployed at major BRTS cut points to regulate traffic. He maintained that the flow of traffic, especially from Mandideep side is high in the evening hours so to regulate traffic, police force is deployed. He admitted that private vehicles enter the corridor like the car which crashed in a BRTS bus stop on Tuesday killing a 53-year-old woman. Earlier, there were gates at these trisections and BMC employees were deployed to check unauthorised entry into the corridor, but they are not present nowadays.