Agra highway a deathtrap

“The roads of this city were planned a long time ago keeping in mind a population of about 10 lakh. Today,it is more than 20 lakh and the roads have not been widened,nor has any new planning gone into it,” says A K Tiwari,SP (Traffic),Agra.

The highway only seems to aggravate the traffic confusion when it passes through the city. There are unannounced side cuts in the highway,the road divider isn’t high enough to stop the light of one vehicle from blinding the driver on the opposite side. The police say no planning is being carried out at the major accident spots like Khandari,Waterworks,Sultangunj ki puliya and Runakta although they have caused so many deaths.

“We have written to the authorities that the major cause of accidents is the faulty road engineering and laxness on their behalf,” says Dr Sanjay Chaturvedi,founder of Society for help in Acute Road Emergencies.

In Agra,helmets are not in fashion and auto-rickshaws are crammed with more than 15 schoolchildren. Out of the 200 allocations for traffic constables,79 posts are lying vacant. Another reason for the accidents is overloaded trucks,which are supposed to weigh 35 tonnes after loading,but weigh 50 tonnes and overturn even at an otherwise minor accident.