'Bad roads don't cause accidents always but negligent driving does'

Stuti Pandey Tripathi, 25, lost her life after the two-wheeler she was riding pillion on fell after hitting a pothole in East Bengaluru in September 2015. The Bengaluru Traffic Police registered a case of rash and negligent riding against her husband who was riding the two-wheeler.

In another incident last month, V Pradeep, 29, died after hitting a barricade which was placed at the metro construction site off Kanakapura road.

At least a two-wheeler rider dies in Bengaluru every day. And, the police attribute it to “rash and negligent riding“ even when poor road infrastructure is the culprit. Last year, 381 people lost their lives and a little more than 2,100 were injured in road accidents in Bengaluru involving twowheelers. In the first four months of 2017, as many as 95 two-wheeler riders died and 739 were injured.

While poor road-user behaviour could be one of the causes for accidents and road deaths among two wheeler riders, there is no discounting more basic reasons such as terrain, inadequate road rehabilitation, intersection geometry (such as inadequate turning radii), regulation and guidance.

There has, however, been not a single case in which the police have charged the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or the urban development department when a rider died due to a pothole or an unscientifically-laid speed breaker.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra said, “If there is a death due to accident, we register IPC 304A (Causing death by negligence: Whoever causes the death of any person by doing any rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide).“

In case of a road death in which no other vehicle or person is involved (as in Suryaprakash's or Pradeep's case), the police deem it a “self accident“ and register a case of “rash and negligent driving“ against the victim.

Urban expert Ashwin Mahesh said institutions should be held responsible for accidents that occur due to poor road conditions. “Some accidents do happen due to rash and negligent riding. However, there are a lot more accidents which are avoidable,“ he said.

“When the footpaths are not walkable, people tend to walk on the road.If there is a pedestrian death in the place where the footpath is bad, the municipality should be held responsible. It will lead to internal procedure and the engineer will be liable,“ he said.