A college girl died at a north Calcutta intersection early on Friday when the autorickshaw she was in slammed into a bus after speeding past a flashing amber light, a signal for caution that most drivers ignore or don't understand.
Puja Paul, 18, was seated to the left of the driver when the auto crashed into the rear door of a bus that was diagonally more than halfway down the intersection of Raja Dinendra Street and Aurobindo Sarani. The tragedy occurred at 6.25am, barely five minutes before the automated signalling system is switched on every day at the central control room of the traffic police headquarters.
"The driver didn't bother checking if any vehicle was headed towards the Khanna crossing or the Aurobindo Sarani flyover. He just kept going at speed and hit the rear door of the bus. The auto toppled over sideways and the student seated to his left was fatally injured. She was bleeding profusely from the nose," said a traffic police officer.
Puja died within an hour of being wheeled into RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Doctors cited internal haemorrhage as the cause of death.
Driver Joydeb Naskar, who has head and chest injuries, was in a critical condition until late on Friday. Ajay and Iti Sarkar, who were seated at the back of the auto, have multiple fractures and cuts but are stated to be out of danger. A third passenger, Shib Swain, was discharged after first aid.
Flashing amber lights - yellow or yellowish-brown - are meant to convey to motorists that they need to slow down and look right and left before crossing the intersection. In Calcutta, amber lights are on from midnight to 6.30am.
According to an officer posted at the Raja Dinendra Street-Aurobindo Sarani intersection, the auto involved in the accident was ferrying passengers between Beliaghata ID Hospital and RG Kar Hospital. The front portion of the auto was almost mangled and its roof came off when it toppled over.
Shankar Sonkar, who runs a tea stall at the crossing, said the bus on route L-238 had slowed down to stop across the signal when the crash happened. "There was a deafening noise. We ran towards the accident spot to find the auto on its side and the trapped passengers screaming in pain," he recounted.
Puja, a first-year student in the morning shift of Seth Anandram Jaipuria College, had boarded the auto in front of Beliaghata ID Hospital to reach her college. News of her death brought many of her friends from school to RG Kar throughout the morning.
Puja was the only child of Jhantu and Jhuma Paul. Her uncle Pintu Paul said Puja had passed the Higher Secondary commerce examination from Taki Girls' School on APC Road this year and was studying accountancy at Jaipuria College. "The morning shift commences at 7am and Puja almost always travelled by auto. She would get off at the Gouribari crossing, which is the intersection of Raja Dinendra Street and Aurobindo Sarani, to catch another auto on the Ultadanga-Sovabazar route and reach college."
The auto she was in when the tragedy occurred would have stopped on the other side of the intersection.
A rash driving case has been filed against auto driver Joydeb, but scores of others get away with the same violation on the chaos-ridden streets of Calcutta every day.
From flouting traffic signals and plying without route permits to charging passengers more than the legitimate fare, complaints against auto drivers run into hundreds. There have been instances of rogue drivers even assaulting passengers for daring to protest.
The police promise action against 'auto-cracy' every time an incident occurs, only to forget about it until another life or limb is lost on a lawless street.