The accident that robbed a five-year-old girl of her mother in Jadavpur on Tuesday morning occurred possibly because the motorcycle she was riding with her parents came in a blind spot of the government bus that knocked it down, police said.
At a traffic review meeting in Lalbazar on Wednesday, senior officers instructed the officers in charge of the 26 traffic guards in the city to spread awareness about blind spots for pedestrians and two-wheeler riders to avert accidents like the one in Jadavpur.
Most of Calcutta’s buses are old and rickety. They lack proper rear- and side-view mirrors. Even if they have the mirrors, drivers are often ill-trained or in such a hurry that they do not look at them.
Traffic and transportation experts said buses have four blind spots — on the left and right side of the driver’s cabin, the section of the road immediately below the driver and 10ft in the rear section.
The front danger zone extends 10ft from the front of the bus and is the most dangerous blind spot as the driver cannot see if someone is crossing the road in front, they said.
Besides informing pedestrians about the challenges posed by blind spots, officers from traffic guards will visit bus depots and talk to drivers and conductors on measures they can take to reduce accidents, officers who attended the review meeting said.
On Tuesday morning, Tapas Mondal was riding a motorcycle with wife Debasree and their daughter, Ankita, when a government bus on route E-1 (Jadavpur-Howrah) hit the two-wheeler from behind on Raja SC Mullick Road in Jadavpur.
Debasree fell on the road and a rear wheel of the bus went over her head. She was rushed to Baghajatin State General Hospital where she was declared dead. Tapas fractured his right hand, while Ankita escaped unhurt.
“Senior officers visited the accident site on Wednesday. They spoke to eyewitnesses and have come to suspect that the two-wheeler came in the blind spot in front of the bus,” said a senior officer of Kolkata Police.
“The team did not spot any problems with the road surface or the traffic signal that could have caused the fatal accident.”
Sources said two fatal accidents in the city within 12 hours — between Monday night and Tuesday morning — featured in the discussion at the traffic review meeting.
A 50-year-old woman sitting on the carrier of a bicycle died after being hit by a speeding vehicle in Parnasree around 11.40pm on Monday.