A motorist had a lucky escape on Saturday when a bigger vehicle overtook him from the left and he lost control of his car and mounted the footpath along Ballygunge Circular Road, hit a tree and overturned.

Arman Agarwal, 21, did not suffer any injury as the airbags of the Hyundai i10 got deployed on impact, police said.

Agarwal, a resident of Sarat Chatterjee Avenue, was headed to a gym in the Minto Park area around 7.50am when the accident occurred.

He has told cops a white car, possibly a Toyota Innova, overtook him from the left in such a way that he feared getting hit. In an attempt to save himself, he veered right and mounted the footpath, the police said.

“Around 7.50am, the car got on the footpath opposite the Calcutta Punjab Club and rammed into a tree before overturning,” an officer of Ballygunge police station said.

“The youth at the wheel had a miraculous escape without any injury as the airbags got deployed. That particular stretch of footpath is hardly used by pedestrians.”

Traffic police officers said overtaking was one of the biggest problems in the city. Despite the rule of overtaking only from the right, people in Calcutta keep breaking the rule, they said.

“The problem of overtaking from the wrong side gets aggravated when roads are empty and motorists get a free run to do as they please,” a traffic sergeant said.

“Overtaking from the wrong side inconveniences other vehicles and puts the lives of pedestrians at risk.”

Agarwal, who is a student, was rescued by people of the area. A policeman spotted the overturned car and alerted Ballygunge police station about the accident.

By the time a team of officers reached the spot, Agarwal had been brought out of the car.

He then went with the cops to the police station to report a case against the vehicle that had overtaken him from the left.

The police have started a case of rash and negligent driving against the unknown vehicle.

Thousands of vehicles ply on Ballygunge Circular road every day as it is a prominent arterial road connecting south and central Calcutta. The road has several important crossings with Sarat Bose Road, Chakraberia Road, Hazra Road, Padmapukur Road and AJC Bose Road.

A traffic police officer said the stretch where the accident occurred had several CCTV cameras whose footage was being collected to track down the other vehicle.

“A number of white four-wheelers as described by the complainant and eyewitnesses are seen in the footage. But the exact location of the accident is not directly covered by any camera. So, it is becoming difficult to identify which of these vehicles could have triggered the accident,” the officer said.