Nicco Park to Acharya Vihar Square road has turned accident-prone because there is no road-divider. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: Four persons sustained injuries in three separate accidents last night. The mishaps occurred between Nicco Park and Acharya Vihar on the Sachivalaya Marg.

Police said all the accidents occurred due to heavy fog and darkness that made the vehicles hit the road divider. The people injured in the mishaps were released from the local hospitals after first aid. While two of the vehicles were seized and taken to the local police station, one vehicle, which had overturned, could not be lifted in the night.

Sources said that the stretch of the road between Nicco ark and Acharya Vihar had become accident prone because of the heavy rush during the peak hours. About a fortnight ago, a person died on the road near the Nicco Park Square after falling from a bus which had to take a sudden turn in order to avoid hitting another vehicle coming from the opposite side. “We come across many accident cases on this stretch. Mishaps, in fact, have become a regular affair here,” said a police officer.

The traffic on the road swells as it is connected with two approach roads from Ramadevi Women’s college and Rupali Square. Traffic also flows onto this road from Science Park and the Regional Institute of Education end.

During the peak hours the road is crammed with four wheelers and two wheelers besides pedestrians, mainly the students of nearby educational intuitions who try to cross it from both sides. Office goers use the stretch in large numbers as the road passes via the state secretariat.

Local residents said that absence of a road divider was one of the main reasons for vehicles speeding on this stretch and meeting with accidents. “A divider would certainly reduce the risk of accidents but the authorities are yet to think in terms of one,” said Nilu Pradhan, a nearby beetle shop owner. The traffic policemen deployed at the Nicco Park Square said that there was a narrow road divider near the square, which in fact was a risk, as not many can see it properly.

“Since this divider is hardly 15 metres long, it is not clearly visible. The authorities should either have a divider on the entire stretch or remove this one also,” said the policeman adding that vehicles not using dippers at nighttime were particularly prone to accidents.