Five deaths in two major fatal accidents on Shaheed Gowari and Sakkardara flyovers within a fortnight raise a question mark on traffic management and safety measures on these bridges. Lane cutting, overtaking, overspeeding, using mobile phones while driving are regular violations on the city over-bridges by negligent drivers. In fact, the no deterrence of law is the main factor as violators are going scot-free even after snuffing out lives.

In the past eight months, 13 persons were killed and 18 injured seriously in various accidents reported on flyovers in the city, according to data compiled by Traffic Police. A police official privy to the investigations of the two fatalities said that two things were common in recent these major accidents -- first thing was the vehicles were driven at break-neck speed and second was the height of the parapet wall, it was not enough to save the bike riders falling off the bridge.

In the Sakkardara flyover case, the negligent car driver was speaking to his wife on mobile phone when he lost control on the steering and knocked dead four people on the flyover, he said.

He further said that many errant drivers were found over-speeding their vehicles on the flyovers. Therefore, interceptor vehicles were deployed on Sakkardara and Sadar flyovers to check cases of over-speeding. He also pointed out the problem of lane cutting on the bridges. “Lane cutting and overtaking on the flyover is not allowed as per the rule. However, drivers were found indulged in such errant driving on the will,” he claimed.

On the issue of parapet wall, the official said that the height of the parapet wall needs to be increased with a protective barrier so that if the accident occurs then victims would not be tossed off the bridge. He gave an example of the Sadar flyover and said that there were three accidents reported on the Sadar flyover last year in which the victims fell off the flyover. Soon after, the authorities had installed protective barriers that saved the victim from falling off the flyover, he said. Similar types of arrangements need to be done on all the flyovers in city, he said.