Ranchi, Dec. 17: Driving down Booty Road from Raj Bhavan to Booty More after sunset is like living a nightmare. Accidents are just waiting to happen at every nook and corner of the stretch.

You may suddenly bump into worn-out electric poles popping out from the centre of a newly constructed lane. And if you somehow manage to steer away safely, potholes and leaking water pipes wait in the dark to test the strength of vehicles. If you manage to escape even that, cement dividers placed at odd angles will ensure you end up knocking on death’s door.

This agonising tale of commuters started about a year-and-a-half ago when the road construction department took up the conversion of the 7.9km stretch from Raj Bhavan to Booty More into a four-lane road. But, as things stand now, the stretch has turned into a death trap.

A senior doctor landed in bed with a hurt neck when his car overturned with him trapped inside it on this killer road. Many other car owners have been similarly injured after hitting the ill-aligned road dividers.

“The alignment of the divider is so poor that anyone driving a car from the RIMS end towards Booty More suddenly drives into the divider located near the Sai Hospital,” said Sanjay Mishra, a daily commuter on this road.

Besides, there is nothing to warn drivers that there are newly constructed dividers or freshly dug-up ditches. “While going to office one morning, I found no dividers on the stretch between the IMA building and Police Bhavan. But suddenly, in the evening while returning home I had almost hit the freshly constructed dividers. I was fortunate, but I noticed pieces of glass strewn on the road and a part of the divider damaged that indicated that some other vehicle had already hit it,” said V.N. Jha of Morabadi.

S. Tuti, the executive engineer, conceded: “We have informed the departments concerned. Everything will be sorted out soon, as work has been speeded up in view of the National Games. The project is expected to be completed by April/May 2009. But we are going to complete it much before. By January-end, all these troubles will be sorted out and the smooth bitumen-covered surface will be ready.”