Hyderabad: What began as a routine evening commute on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) on October 5 turned chaotic when a driver abruptly braked to watch water being released from the Himayatsagar. The sudden stop triggered a seven-car pile-up that blocked traffic for over two hours. "It was a moment of distraction," a senior Cyberabad traffic official said.
Such incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent. Hyderabad's highways and expressways have reported at least one multi-vehicle collision every month, particularly during monsoons and foggy winter mornings. On June 1, four cars piled up on the Hyderabad-Bengaluru highway near Shamshabad; on June 30, nine vehicles collided on the ORR and on August 31, nine cars crashed on the PVNR Expressway. On September 29, a 35-year-old IT employee was killed in Shamshabad when his vehicle hit another, reportedly due to drowsy driving.
While no one was injured in the October 5 crash, pile-ups often turn deadly. According to a 2023 report by the ministry of road transport and highways, 3,058 people were killed in accidents on National Highways in Telangana -- about eight deaths every day -- accounting for 43 per cent of the state's road fatalities.
Experts blame poor visibility, speeding, tailgating, fatigue and inadequate highway driving skills for most accidents. Oil spills and sudden obstructions from construction also contribute. Rachakonda traffic officials cited oil spills on Chengicherla Road leading to NH-163 as a cause of several previous pile-ups.
"Most pile-ups occur because drivers don't slow down in fog," said Prof. Kavita Vemuri of the International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad. "When visibility drops and vehicles continue at high speeds with little distance between them, collisions are inevitable."
Vemuri stressed the use of fog lights during low-visibility conditions. "In many countries, yellow lights are used because they reduce glare. India mostly uses white LEDs, which can strain the eyes," she said, noting that ORR's white lighting, though bright, may not be ideal for fog.
She underscored driver education as the real solution. "Many drivers are not trained to handle adverse conditions. Ideally, there should be at least half a kilometre between vehicles in fog," she said. Police officials agreed that sudden braking remains a common cause. "When visibility is poor, the safest choice is to pull over carefully and wait until it clears," she added.
Technology, Vemuri said, can complement but not replace responsible driving. "Google Maps could include live fog updates, and local fog sensors could send data to alert boards in real time. But sensors can't compensate for reckless driving. Training is the real fix -- technology only helps disciplined drivers," she concluded.