This is a small stretch of VIP Road, but it has already acquired a big, bad reputation.

From Dakshindari to Lake Town, this half-a-km stretch of the only road to the airport is now being referred to as the “zone of death”. And with some reason — in the past 12 months, 19 accidents have been recorded, with the fatality count touching nine on Monday.

Tarak Sarkar, 42, was crushed under the wheels of a private bus near the traffic outpost at Lake Town while waiting to cross the thoroughfare in the morning. Sarkar, a resident of Jyangra, in Baguiati, was on his way to work at Bengal Chemical when the speeding bus (route unidentified) knocked him down.

He was rushed to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

So what is so dangerous about this stretch of VIP Road?

Police, while struggling to put a safety plan in place, are putting the blame on a possible combination of factors:

*The prospect of hitting VIP Road after being slowed down by the crowded Ultadanga crossing often results in drivers stepping on the gas.

But with colonies having sprung up on either side of the stretch, the number of pedestrians, waiting to get to the other side (as was the case with Sarkar), has risen steadily. This increases the risk of accidents.

“Initial observations suggest that cars coming down Durgapur bridge pick up speed on hitting VIP Road,” said inspector-in-charge of Lake Town police station Sitaram Sinha.

“The initial stretch, which people now call the death zone, is the most dangerous, as cars coming out of the jam at the Ultadanga crossing tend to speed up, often losing control.”

*Why blame the drivers alone? Pedestrians are equally at fault, claim the cops.

Like in most other parts of the city, pedestrians care little about traffic rules. With the VIP Road crossing being particularly chaotic and with vehicles picking up speed, the accident count just keeps on rising.

*This stretch, between Dakshindari and Lake Town, is far more prone to accidents than the rest, as policing is far from adequate.

At other intersections along the road, like at Baguiati, Keshtopur, Bangur, Teghoria and Kaikhali, there are either traffic constables monitoring vehicular movement or local volunteers managing the flow of fast-moving traffic.

A pedestrian overbridge has come up at Keshtopur to reduce the number of people trying to cross the streets.