Gurgaon: Two accident-prone stretches to get road reflectors, markers

With a view to curb accidents due to low visibility in winter, the city police will put in extra illumination, such as road reflectors and hazard markers, along major roads in Gurgaon.

The exercise is being taken up in collaboration with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd based on a recommendation by the government-run National Transportation Planning and Research Centre.

In the pilot project, roadside indicators such as hazard markers, reflective sheets and delineator posts will be installed at 122 accident prone spots on two stretches — the Iffco Chowk-Signature Tower-Huda City metro station triangle off the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and the stretch of MG Road from Iffco Chowk metro station to Sikanderpur metro station.

The MG Road was chosen for the pilot project as it houses a number of malls that get heavy footfall late into the night, especially on weekends. The stretch also sees a high volume of traffic as half of the road space is occupied by parked cars in the absence of parking lots.

The road from Huda City Centre to Signature Tower also has high traffic owing to the presence of two metro stations and hotels nearby. Both these stretches have reported more accidents and incidents of road rage than other roads in Gurgaon.

“In winters, it becomes difficult to drive at night due to low visibility caused by fog and smog. To counter this, we have identified two stretches that will be properly illuminated with road markings and reflective road material,” said Y Puran Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

In areas where fog tends to be extreme, the road markings will be coloured in yellow instead of white for enhanced visibility.

As many as 56 hazard markers, 237 delineator posts and 904 reflective sheetings will be installed on these two stretches at a cost of ₹22 lakh till December 31.

“It is necessary to provide reflectors on barricades and hazardous objects within or near roads so that even when there is a dense fog cover, such structures are visible,” Kumar said.

The project will be rolled out on Tuesday and will be replicated on other stretches such as the Golf Course Road in future.

Every year, a number of lives are lost in road accidents caused by low visibility. As many as 2,676 people died and 5,862 sustained injuries in accidents in Gurgaon in the last five years.

In 2016, till November, 385 persons, including 181 pedestrians, died and 1,005 persons sustained injuries in accidents across Gurgaon in 2016.

In 2015, 435 were killed and 1,087 injured in road accidents. The number was more or less the same in 2014, which recorded 430 deaths and 1,144 injuries in road accidents.