31 road fatalities on Gurugram’s GCR- stretch in last three years

The signal-free Golf Course Road-Cyber City stretch has emerged as one of the most accident-prone stretches in the city with as many as 31 road fatalities recorded here in the last three years.

The death of four employees of a restaurant, who were mowed down by a speeding Skoda car allegedly being driven by a person under the influence of alcohol, near Arjun Marg crossing on Golf Course Road on early Thursday morning has reignited the debate that the 9.4km stretch between Shankar Chowk and Ghata T-point is in dire need of repairs.

In the aftermath of Thursday’s accident, Gurugram traffic police said they will restart the drive to check for drink driving, which hasn’t taken place in the city ever since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March 2020.

“A joint team of traffic police, DLF Phase 1 police station, and road safety cell has been formed to investigate the causes that lead to accidents on the GCR-Cyber City stretch. The team will monitor all angles in Thursday’s mishap as well as the reasons behind frequent accidents on the stretch. We are also restarting the use of breath analysers from Friday to check for drink driving,” said Ravinder Singh Tomar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), traffic, adding that the drive will be in place for three days.

Meanwhile, road safety experts said that besides an increase in enforcement, the entire stretch needs changes in road design, installation of speed reducing measures, such as rumble strips and speed cameras.

“We have been discussing the issues of Golf Course Road-Cyber City stretch for several years now. Over 15 people die and many are seriously injured in accidents on this stretch every year. We have to make this stretch safer by making changes in its design and cannot build highways inside our cities. This road needs to be treated as an urban road,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, road-safety expert from Nagarro.

Bhatt highlighted that treating the stretch as an urban road will help in planning better road engineering, speed monitoring and more effective enforcement by making requisite changes at all the intersections and accident-prone spots on the stretch as well as imposing heavy penalties on those violating traffic norms.

“Right from its inception, the stretch has been vulnerable to two-wheelers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Some changes have been made on this stretch, but they are limited to the underpasses. On the surface level, no changes have been made on this stretch since its redesign in 2017. This needs to be addressed on priority,” said Sewa Ram, an urban transport systems design expert and a faculty member at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi.

Ram further said besides the installation of speeding cameras, the physical presence of police is also required for on-the-spot issuance of challans for traffic violations.