In response to the recent accident on airport road flyover in which a car carrying a family of five was hit by an ambulance, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has started a trial run of prohibiting 'slow' vehicles from travelling on the flyovers on this road.
'Slow' vehicles include cycles, two-wheelers, autos, and lane discipline will be strictly enforced on the road starting this week. Trucks and lorries will also have to restrict movement towards the left side of the road. The 'slow' vehicles can use the road below the flyover.
“Slow moving vehicles travelling at 40 kilometres per hour are obstructing the traffic on this stretch which is why we decided to ban them on a trial basis. We will observe the difficulties on this stretch for a week and then undertake road safety measures accordingly. The road is a 25 to 30 kilometre stretch and the airport traffic is heavy. High speed vehicles go at 80 kilometres per hour and get obstructed by the slow-moving vehicles,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) P Harishekaran told The New Indian Express.
The accident that occurred on May 27 was the tipping point for traffic authorities. In the accident, a speeding ambulance lost control, hit the divider and crossed into the opposite lane before ramming into a car.
Traffic police are also planning awareness programmes so that the message reaches commuters.
As per statistics from the city's Traffic Police department, the number of cases of speeding has come down in the last two years from 1,30,868 in 2017 to 90,942 in 2018. However, the radar speed gun which was installed on the Airport Road last year has since gone missing. The pole on which the radar speed gun was displayed has fallen down and the LED screen which displays the speeds of vehicles travelling on the road has gone missing, as per a report by Bangalore Mirror.