Road dividers without reflectors pose danger to commuters

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 26

The concrete dividers on various roads of Srinagar city are becoming a major cause of road accidents, especially during the night hours, as all of them are without radium reflectors or reflective paint.

Many motorists, in the absence of reflectors, ram into these dividers.

“Though the government has build dividers for streamlining traffic, the biggest flaw of these dividers is that there are no reflectors, thus creating the risk of accidents. It seems the government forgot the concept of evening driving. This is negligence on the part of government as it has put lives of people at risk,” said a resident of Srinagar.

The dividers were constructed to ensure that the traffic plies without any congestion. However, they are proving dangerous during the night hours.

“It is criminal that the authorities have not installed radium reflectors on the dividers. It is leading to a number of road accidents,” said Shahid Ahmed, a resident of Shalteng.

“Almost every night, a number of vehicles get damaged at Shalteng as the dividers are not spotted by the drivers,” he added.

The residents said these dividers were initially painted with reflective colours, but after the accumulation of mud over a period of time, the purpose of the paint was defeated.

“These dividers are proving dangerous. We have been frequently requesting the officials to install reflectors, but they have not done it so far,” a traffic police official said.

Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Farooq Ahmed Lone said he would ensure that reflectors are installed on these dividers.

“I will ensure that reflectors are installed at the dividers in the coming days,” Lone said.