27-year-old woman’s death puts spotlight on safety at Golf Course Road in Gurgaon

Road safety experts said the stretch from Golf Course Road to Cyber City has accounted for over 30 fatalities in the past three years. In Wednesday’s incident, the victim’s mother alleged in her police complaint that an unknown vehicle brushed against her daughter’s car, due to which it rammed into a Metro pillar. In March, four employees of a restaurant were killed after a car rammed into their motorcycles near Arjun Marg. In December 2021, two law students were killed after their car was hit by an unknown vehicle near the marble market.

In the aftermath of the March incident, officials of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, National Highways Authority of India, traffic police and road engineering experts had carried out an inspection and announced a safety audit of the entire Golf Course Road, to reduce accidents and check wrong side driving. Several months later, the audit is yet to be completed, said officials.

Sewa Ram, an urban transport systems design expert and a faculty member at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) in Delhi, said, “The road has several design flaws. GCR should have set and defined speed limits and proper signages for commuters. Lack of such interventions can cause confusion and over speeding, especially while moving in and out of underpasses. The U-turn near Bristol Chowk on MG road is close to the surface of an underpass, which is unsafe and can result in collisions when vehicles pass at high speed. The footpath continuity has not been maintained at stretches. In terms of land use, with several commercial and residential properties coming up on the road, the problems are compounded for pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheelers, who are vulnerable to accidents at several intersections.”

Experts said wrong side driving is another major concern on several stretches on the road. “Several vehicles going towards Sikanderpur/Cyber City exit Arjun Marg by taking the prohibited turn and drive on the wrong side to get on to the other carriageway. At Sector 53/54 roundabout near the Metro station where the recent accident occurred, a similar problem persists with vehicles indulging in wrong side driving on the service road. Traffic rules need to be enforced and additional deployment of police personnel can help in addressing some of these concerns. There must be a detailed audit to look into these issues,” said a road safety consultant, requesting anonymity.

Officials said that they have installed rumble strips, cat-eye road studs, speed cameras and other measures to prevent accidents.

Amit Godhara, executive engineer, infrastructure-1, GMDA, said, “A safety audit was commissioned to the developer that maintains the road and the report is awaited. After the survey is complete and a report is finalised, remedial measures regarding design or any other issues shall be taken up. Over-speeding is something that occurs everywhere, but we are looking into these issues.”

Meanwhile, traffic police said that to curb accidents and for better traffic management, a plan to set speed limits on all major stretches and internal roads across the city has been approved after an audit. Currently, a generic speed limit is imposed across the city.

“For all major arterial roads, a speed limit of 50 km/hr for light vehicles and 30 km/hr for heavy vehicles has been proposed, while on state highways, a speed limit of 70 km/hr for light vehicles and 40 km/hr for heavy vehicles will be imposed,” said Ravinder Tomar, DCP traffic.