Kolkata: A youth was killed and at least three people were injured after an SUV rammed into two cars and a motorcycle in quick succession in New Town on Wednesday night.
According to sources, around 8:30 pm on Wednesday, an SUV was heading towards Narkelbagan crossing from Eco Park along Biswa Bangla Sarani. At the same time, a motorcycle and a car coming from the Aliah University side were waiting at the Westin crossing traffic signal for the red light to turn green. As the signal for the SUV was green, it was moving at a relatively high speed.
Suddenly, a car coming from the Jatragachhi side took a U-turn at the Westin crossing to enter Biswa Bangla Sarani towards Narkelbagan, allegedly violating the red signal. The SUV could not stop in time and collided with the car. After hitting the vehicle taking the U-turn, the SUV veered to its left and struck the motorcycle and another car that were waiting at the signal to take a right turn towards Eco Park.
The motorcycle became trapped under the SUV, and the rider, identified as Siva Rao (33), sustained multiple injuries and died on the spot. The driver of the car that allegedly violated the signal, along with the driver and a passenger of the SUV, also sustained multiple injuries and were admitted to a local hospital. Sources said signal violations are common in New Town, particularly in Action Area II and III. The stretch between Narkelbagan crossing and Akansha More is about 4.9 km long and has only five traffic signals, with an average distance of about one kilometre between them.
The distance between Eco Park Gate No. 1 and Akansha More is around 3.1 km and has only one intermediate traffic signal. As a result, overspeeding at night along this stretch is quite common and several buses are also reported to violate traffic signals during the night.