dhillon

Not just speed, a billboard could kill too

Ahmedabad : The famed Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway has a new claim to infamy. The billboards that line its contours on either side could be responsible for the string of accidents taking place on the 93-kilometre stretch, says a survey by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). These billboards have turned death traps as they distract attention of drivers travelling at 110-120 km/hr.

"A survey between January and April in 2007-08, which sees maximum traffic, revealed that out of 111 accidents, 49 occurred in stretches that have billboards. These billboards have been cleverly erected just outside the 90-metre wide expressway boundary on private farmlands, which come under the respective collectors. Most of these billboards are located near the Ahmedabad and Vadodara ends," says a senior NHAI official.

Traffic and road engineers of NHAI while calculating reflex patterns of drivers on the expressway found reasons to believe that the accidents were caused due to the billboards. In a detailed letter to the state government last year, NHAI said, " The average speed of a car on the expressway is 100 km/hr. At this speed, the driver requires a stopping distance of 120 metres after applying breaks under normal circumstances. It takes approximately three seconds for him for this operation. A billboard can play truant here. A small distraction because of the billboard would mean an additional 80 metres for the driver causing him to skid and hit an obstruction and die."

An NHAI official adds, "For long stretches there are no billboards and suddenly out of nowhere an eye-catching billboard appears. Advertisers have used this method to gain attention."

But despite NHAI's warnings and requests to district administrators of Anand, Kheda, Vadodara and Ahmedabad to remove billboards from alongside the expressway, nothing has happened, and accident rates have gone up.

The survey also showed the 20-kilometre stretch between Kheda and Ahmedabad and between Anand and Vadodara was the most accident prone.

Even the Indian Road Congress (IRC) regulations, section 46 considers advertisements as "hazardous to traffic," and that it is a "public danger" as "it obstructs the view of drivers of fast moving vehicles and hence advertisments of private land can be logically prohibited," on such grounds.

15 Mar 2009, TNN

drkishor32

Dear mr.
express way ah-vadodara is a sample for gujarat. but how you looks what angle you are looking is very importent.there is no accident if driver is fully concious.you must know you are driving a car on a road.express way is giving you space not a drim way. i think every driver are in a deep drim on express way, who is suffer a accident.