Ludhiana: Stationary vehicles on highways invite fatal mishaps

With the onset of winter and the already prevailing hazy weather conditions in the region, risk of road accidents has also increased on highways. Adding to the woes, chances of road mishaps get multiplied due to the hazardous parking of vehicles on national highways.

Thick smog makes it challenging for drivers to spot stationary vehicles on roads. Hazardously parked vehicles force drivers to navigate through tight spaces and increase chances of rear-end collisions. There is also a risk of vehicle pile-ups due to the same.

During a survey in the industrial hub, vehicles were found parked hazardously on national highways, including the Jalandhar-Ludhiana road near the Jalandhar bypass, Ludhiana-Sahnewal road in Dhandari, Ludhiana-Malerkotla road near Gill village, Hambran road and Ludhiana-Chandigarh road. No PCR or traffic police official was seen on the roads to discourage the practice.

It is learnt that trucks and other commercial vehicles are usually parked opposite dhabas (eating joints) on the highways. During foggy days, such vehicles pose risk of road mishaps as other vehicles may collide with these due to the poor visibility.

“Sometimes we park our trucks on highways in a hurry to have food at eating joints and when vehicles develop technical snag. We always try to put reflectors or some other signals near the vehicles so that commuters could notice the stationary vehicles. Many truck drivers intentionally park vehicles on the highway, instead of parking in the service lanes. Now, I will try to follow the norms and encourage my fellow drivers to follow as well to prevent road mishaps,” said a truck driver who had parked his truck on the road near the Jalandhar bypass.

In 2017, due to the hazardous parking on the highway, a major road tragedy had occurred in Doraha where a woman and her son were killed when their vehicle rammed into a stationary truck. Afterwards, the then Commissioner of Police RN Dhoke had directed heads of all 28 police stations of the Ludhiana Commissionerate to register immediate FIRs and impound vehicles, two-wheelers or four-wheelers, in such cases. Following which, several FIRs were also registered and vehicles were also impounded by the Ludhiana police. Traffic police officials and police personnel were also told to patrol highways during foggy days.