Traffic light area at Barnala bypass turns accident prone

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 11

Traffic light intersection on the Barnala bypass road has turned into a killer spot as a large number of accidents have taken place due to driving on wrong side.

However, the administration has failed to depute any police official at the spot to manage the traffic.

Residents have demanded that traffic personnel be deputed to make sure that no one flouts rules by taking a short cut where there is no divider on the main road.

Earlier, there were no traffic lights at this intersection and it used to create a lot of chaos as traffic from all directions would pass through the spot.

Now, traffic lights have been installed and are functional, but despite this the situation has failed to change due to driving on the wrong side.

Vikas Garg, a city resident, said, “Aiming to save time and extra ride for a kilometer, motorists and car drivers often go to the wrong direction to cross the road. This is leading to frequent accidents on the road.”

Apart from this, commuters on the Barnala bypass road are highly affected due to vehicles parked on the slip roads, leaving less space for other vehicles.

Ever since the main road has been separated with grills, the commuters going towards residential areas have to use the slip roads that have virtually turned into parking lots.

Hotel Sapphire, Hotel Stella, Hotel Highway Inn, Jeet Palace, Reliance Mart and Azad Nagar are situated along the slip road.

Visitors to these outlets and hotels block the roads by parking their vehicles in a haphazard manner.

Apart from this, even a car dealer has also parked his vehicles on the slip road, without any fear of law as the traffic police are hardly concerned about inconvenience caused to the commuters due to illegal parking.

The situation turns more pathetic during functions or parties organised at these hotels or places located along the road.

Instead of parking their vehicles in the parking lots of these hotels, the guests prefer to use the slip roads, making it convenient for them at the time of leaving. This adds to traffic chaos on these slip roads.