Lucknow: A 35-year-old woman died and her 12-year-old daughter was critically injured after a vehicle rammed their e-rickshaw, which was on the wrong side, on NH-9 on Wednesday. Two other passengers were also on the e-rickshaw but escaped with minor injuries.
E-rickshaws are not allowed on the highway, but hundreds of them don’t just regularly ply on NH-9 but also break traffic rules, wrong-side driving being the most common violation. A total of 2,30,078 challans were issued to violators caught driving on the wrong side across the city last year, as per police data.
Additional DCP (traffic) Veerendra Kumar said the woman, Neha Sharma (35), a resident of Sector 9, and her two children were to get down at an eatery near the Tigri roundabout in the Vijay Nagar area when the e-rickshaw was hit by a four-wheeler on the Delhi to Lal Kuan arm of the highway around 12.30 am. Neha and her 12-year-old daughter, Vaishnavi, were taken to the district hospital by passersby where the former died during treatment. Vaishnavi continues to be in critical care, the officer said. Her nine-year-old son escaped unhurt.
ACP Kotwali Ravindra Kumar Verma said a complaint was submitted by Neha’s brother against an unknown driver and the e-rickshaw driver under IPC Sections 304A (death due to negligence) and 279 (rash driving).
“The e-rickshaw driver took a shortcut and drove on the NH9 despite knowing that three-wheelers are banned on it, just to save a few minutes. We are trying to identify the e-rickshaw driver as he too fled with the vehicle after the accident. The other car is also being traced with the help of CCTV cameras,” Verma said.
To reduce road crashes on NH-9, police have decided not to allow e-rickshaws on the highway from April 1, 2023. Cops are also deputed at seven points to stop these three-wheelers from entering the speedway. “The duty of traffic cops on the NH9 ends around 10 pm. So, no cops were present when the accident took place. We are making efforts to stop this nuisance,” Veerendra said.
