Hyderabad: With the number of accidents involving super bikes and cars rising, road experts say roads in the city were designed for speeds of 40-60 kmph. Exceeding these limits leads to situations in which motorists cannot control their vehicles.
As per statistics released by Hyderabad City Crime Records' Bureau (CCRB), 40 per cent of two-wheeler riders are involved in all accidents while the share of motor cars is 31 per cent. In most of the cases, the causes of accidents is speeding and negligence of drivers. Most vehicles involved were powerful ones with over 1,200 CC for cars and 200 CC for bikes.
Additional Director General of Road Safety Authorities T. Krishna Prasad said city roads were limited to speed of up to 40 kmph.
“Unfortunately, the government does not notify speed limit on city roads like it has on state and national highways. The roads were designed to meet requirements of multi-mode transportations like bicycles, low-speed vehicles, auto-rickshaws, cars, buses and trucks,” he said.
Transport expert and retired additional commissioner of transport department C.L.N. Gandhi said city roads would not support high speed.
“The road designing for cities and highways is different. Motorists driving high-speed cars or super bikes cannot go at high speed on city roads as the condition does not support speed. Motorist cannot control the vehicle if the speed exceeds 60kmph. National highways allow such vehicles to travel at a speed of 80kmph or more,” he said.
Traffic police book an average of 750 cases per month under the Motor Vehicle Act and IPC. But youth owning super cars and bikes often do not follow rules, which leads to fatal accidents, a policeman said.
Proper training for handling speed must
Bona fide racers in the city say that purchasing super cars and bikes is not for everyone and proper training is required for handling them. They say safety is extremely important when handling high-speed cars and super bikes.
Mr. Mihar Shah, a racer and financial consultant, said those owning cars and bikes with great horsepower should be more responsible. "Every time during fatal accidents we, the racers, feel very sad. The younger set should feel greater responsibility while handling high horsepower vehicles. We don't drive in great speed on city roads although we have super cars and bikes. City roads don't support high-speed vehicles even though roads are empty," he said.
Deadly details
Accidents in city (up to March 31)
Number of accidents: 620
Fatal Accidents: 81
Severe Accidents: 40
Normal accidents: 499
Number of deaths: 83
Number of injured persons: 621
Accident analysis (day-wise)
Monday: 88
Tuesday: 91
Wednesday: 70
Thursday: 93
Friday: 92
Saturday: 84
Sunday: 102
Accused vehicles:
Two-wheeler: 249
Cars: 195
Auto-rickshaws: 60
RTC Buses: 32
Unknown vehicles: 25
Other vehicles: 59
