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The spot on Tata-Kandra Road where the accident took place on Friday. (Animesh Sengupta)
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A 21-year-old man was killed on Friday when the motorcycle he was riding collided with a trailer, hurtling down the wrong side of the Tata-Kandra four-lane, near Sudha Dairy in Adityapur.
The accident that claimed Prashant Kumar in the afternoon was the 42nd such incident in which at least six people have died since the road was opened to vehicles on December 31 last year.
The 15.5km stretch that has come up at a cost of Rs 185.5 crore, isn’t punctuated with adequate number of gaps to facilitate U-turns — an apparent design flaw often prompting heavy vehicles to take the wrong side to save time and fuel.
It is used by around 1,000 heavy trucks and trailers daily, most of which come to the Adityapur industrial area to drop off raw materials or pick up finished products.
A particular five-kilometre stretch of the four-lane road, between Adityapur Toll Bridge and Gamharia Market, where Prashant was killed, has proved to be the most dangerous one.
Eyewitnesses said Prashant was driving on the left side of the road when he suddenly noticed the speeding trailer headed towards him around 1pm, a time when the road usually witnesses heavy traffic.
He could not swerve out of the way on time and collided with the trailer sustaining head injuries.
He was immediately rushed to Tata Main Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.
The killer driver, meanwhile, managed to flee with his vehicle, which was later found abandoned a little distance away from the accident spot.
Officer in-charge of Adityapur police station K.N. Mishra confirmed the incident and said the trailer was travelling on the wrong side of the road.
“We have seized the trailer and registered a case of negligent driving against its driver who is absconding,” Mishra said.
He added that trailers often got on the wrong side of the four-lane .
“We keep a check on such rogue vehicles and take action whenever they flout norms. However, due to a manpower crunch at the police station we are not able to devote enough men to keep vigil,” the inspector said.
Mishra said heavy vehicles coming out of the industrial units of Adityapur instead of keeping left and then taking a U-turn, hurtle down the wrong side facing oncoming traffic and risking lives of hundreds on two or four-wheelers.
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