On June 6, when the Trinamul Congress shut down the city to protest the fuel price hike, 65-year-old Naba Kumar Roychowdhury and his wife set out for a leisurely evening walk near the intersection of EM Bypass and Beleghata Main Road. Unlike on normal weekdays, there was not much traffic on the road, despite Trinamul reducing the bandh duration by an hour and a half from the original 12 hours.

The couple were crossing the road when a speeding vehicle knocked them down. Roychowdhury died.

The accident illustrates how the Bypass has become a speed corridor where no rule of the road is followed.

Three weeks after Roychowdhury’s death — and later, of Deccan staffer Saheli Roy— Metro runs a check to find out what ails the Bypass.

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Stop lines: From Parama island onwards, the white lines on the road that indicate the points where motorists should stop become progressively difficult to spot. Near the Ruby bus stop, if you head northwards, notice how the lines thin out. As you go further ahead, the lines become fainter. Near the Picnic Garden crossing, for instance, the white lines have all but disappeared. At several other intersections, including the one near the crossing that leads to Dhapa, there are no lines on either side of the signal.

We spotted a constable trying hard to clear the traffic congestion that was building up with vehicles taking a turn and some heading for the mall-cum-residential complex that has come up in the area.

There are no signs at the intersection to inform motorists of how to reach the mall. It is no different in front of the mall that has come up on another Bypass property, this one close to Salt Lake stadium.

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Zebra crossings: Except for one near the intersection of Narkeldanga Main Road and another off the point where Beleghata Main Road meets the Bypass, there is no clearly visible zebra crossing along the speed corridor.

Police admit that Roychowdhury would not have died had there been a zebra crossing at the site where he was knocked down. But nobody has yet taken the trouble of adding a zebra crossing at the accident site.

At the Chingrihata intersection, pedestrians cross the road from all directions without worrying about the risk. Police personnel deployed there say they can do little to prevent accidents because there is no defined pathway for pedestrians.

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Signposts: At the point where the flyover leading to the airport starts, there are no signs for motorists except a lone CMDA signboard. Those at the wheel have to guess whether the vehicles ahead of them will take the flyover — judicious use of signal lights is alien to most drivers in the city — or take the other curve to continue on the Bypass. There are not enough speed-limit signs either.

The police had said after fixing speed limits that signs would be put up all along the Bypass. We counted just three from the Ultadanga crossing.

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What the traffic bosses say: “We don’t have adequate manpower to deploy at all the intersections on the Bypass. There are just six traffic sergeants, and we don’t even have a proper office,” said a senior officer of Beleghata Traffic Guard, opened only a few weeks ago.

A top officer in Lalbazar said the process of awarding contracts to put up signs announcing speed limits was completed a few days ago.