GMDA to conduct study before making engineering changes on Golf Course Road

A team comprising officials from the Gurugram traffic police and the engineering wing of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on Saturday visited Golf Course Road and conducted a safety audit, two days after four employees of a restaurant were mowed down by a speeding car, allegedly being driven by a person under the influence of alcohol.

Police said though the car driver was heavily inebriated at the time of the accident, motorists too were found driving from the wrong side. As a temporary solution, barricades were put in place near the accident spot before the DLF Phase 1 intersection on Saturday.

The team, accompanied by officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and road engineering experts, analysed the accident spot and found that overspeeding and wrong-side driving were the two major problems on the stretch.

Ravinder Singh Tomar, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (traffic), said they spent over two hours at the accident spot and decided to come up with short-term and long-term solutions to avert accidents. “There is an intersection (DLF Phase 1) on the stretch, where speeding is a major concern. In fact, over speeding is a major problem on the stretch from Shankar Chowk to Golf Course Extension,” he said.

Tomar said based on the suggestions of road safety experts, the traffic police and the GMDA have taken a joint decision to install CCTV cameras that will be linked to the integrated command and control system (ICCC) in Sector 44, which will capture traffic violations. Police teams will constantly coordinate with the traffic police at checkpoints and patrol vehicles to ensure no stolen vehicle passes by.

M R Sharma, chief engineer of GMDA’s engineering wing, said a safety audit will be conducted for the entire stretch, with special focus on the accident spots. “We will check designs of the exits on Golf Course Road, including gate number 11, to check if they have been constructed as per design. If we find the design has not been adhered to, we will rectify the defects on priority,” he said.

The GMDA has directed the team to place six rumble strips on the road near the accident spot at Golf Course Road.Tomar said the reason behind putting in place rumble strips is to make vehicles reduce their speed.

The police team, road safety experts and NHAI officials also visited Binola crossing, where five people were killed after the car they were travelling in rammed into a truck on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway (NH-48) early on Thursday morning–an hour after the accident on Golf Course Road. The reasons for lack of road engineering and accidents were thoroughly discussed. Pawan Kumar, regional head of NHAI, assured to conduct a safety audit of the whole national highway.

A traffic team, along with with NHAI officials, also visited Kherki Daula toll plaza and discussed about a dedicated U-turn for Southern Peripheral Road (SPR).