Three road accidents have been reported in Noida in the past three days. Two occurred on the elevated road connecting Sector 18 to Sector 60-61 – one happened on Sunday involving a sedan where two were injured, the second one happened on Monday involving a cab in which one was injured. The third accident happened on the flyover from Sector 37 towards Sector 16-A wherein a bike was hit by a truck from behind. According to reports, the bike and pillion rider succumbed to their injuries. In all three accidents, speeding was identified as the cause of the mishaps. While reckless driving and speeding are not new on Noida roads, what’s making elevated roads and flyovers even more accident-prone are the wide signal-free stretches with hardly any police presence. While officials say that there are cameras installed to check speeding and they don’t need to be physically present as it will only add to the traffic, Noidawallahs are worried that this makes commuters speed and drive on the wrong side with impunity on the elevated roads, and accidents are waiting to happen daily.WRONG SIDE DRIVING: The elevated road connecting Sector 18 to Sector 61-62Commuters say that since there are hardly any police vans or traffic cops on the elevated roads, drivers cross the speed limit (60 for cars and 40 for heavy vehicles) without any fear of being checked. “When there is no one to stop them, why would anyone abide by the laws? Many are not even aware that there are cameras installed to fine violators. Noidawallahs love to drive recklessly and the elevated road gives them a reason to,” says Tulika Jha, a resident of Sector 26 who works in Delhi. Her car was hit last year by a biker who, Tulika says, was driving at high speed. “I was getting on to the elevated road from the NTPC cut when the biker zoomed past and broke my side-view mirror. I tried going after the biker, but he was too fast,” she adds.Officials say that high-tech cameras are installed along the elevated road that connects Sector 18 to Sector 61-62 on the divider, which help them fine violators, and they don’t need to be physically present there, since it will only add to the traffic. “There are two cameras installed on each carriageway of the road which automatically detect a high speed vehicle and issue an e-challan to the vehicle owner. The cameras are installed along the divider of the road near NTPC office and can gather data from up to a 500-metre radius,” a senior traffic official told us, adding, “The elevated road is monitored from the Sector 14-A trafffic police station where the feed from the cameras is sent. There is no provision for traffic patrol car to be present on the elevated road or the flyovers as it may result in further congestion.”Sector-37 flyoverAmit Gupta, a traffic volunteer in the city, suggests some steps to curb high-speed driving on the elevated road. “The cameras fail to achieve the objective of making people drive under the speed limit because they only cover a 500-meter radius over the 4.8 kilometer stretch of the road. As a result, there is no fear among people of getting challaned. We have suggested to the traffic officials to put yellow reflector strips on the roads to give an impression of speed breakers which will at least make some slow down their vehicles,” says Gupta, who lives in Sector 77.The problem of speeding persists on the Sector 37 flyover as well, which has a sharp cut, making it accident-prone. “As traffic coming from the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway converges onto the flyover towards Sector 16-A, many vehicles do not lower their speed. They seem to forget that they are off the expressway, and taking a sharp cut on high speed may prove dangerous,” says Dhananjay Jain, who works in Sector 135 and lives in Sector 29. He adds, “As a result, many suddenly pull the break while taking the turn, which once resulted in me hitting a car from behind. The driver was at high speed and I was behind him. Thankfully, my speed was low and I was able to pull the breaks on time and there was no major damage.”WRONG-SIDE DRIVING: Elevated road connecting Sector 18 to Sectors 61-62Meanwhile, on the elevated road, another violation plagues traffic - wrong-side driving. The two cuts on both sides of the carriageways often see vehicles coming from the wrong side, endangering their and others’ lives. In January, an auto driver lost his life when he was getting off the elevated road from the wrong side near the ISKCON temple and rammed into a car getting on the flyover.“Once I was getting off the elevated road at the Sector 33 (ISKCON) cut when I almost hit another car because it was coming from the wrong side. And that too at high speed. I even got into an altercation with him, but it seems no one here abides by the law,” says Tanvi Sai, a resident of Sector 34. Commuters who want to go towards Sector 18 from Sector 26 or 33 or vice versa will have to take the road underneath the elevated road. However, in order to avoid the traffic, many opt to get on the elevated road from the wrong side which often proves dangerous.“People think it is just a few metres, but what they don’t realise is that accidents happen in a matter of seconds. I always slow down my vehicle whenever I see someone coming from the wrong side. We can’t make them change, but we can at least save ourselves from mishaps,” says Pradeep Sareen, a resident of Sector 44 who works in Sector 62 and uses the elevated road for daily commute.

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