Rain Trees Claim Lives

Bangalore Environment

Bikers face accidents every year on the 100-foot road in Indiranagar, the reason being the seeds of the Rain trees.

By Hansy Sanctis

Bengaluru, April 10, 2019.

A biker on his way back home, skid off the 100 Foot road in Indiranagar on Monday evening, losing his life due to the slippery road. According to The Hindu, the deceased was Sithanathan Chinnu, a 35-year-old software engineer. The accident took place because the road is slippery, the rain being mixed with the strewn seeds from the rain trees located in the area.

Basavaraj S, a traffic constable posted near the Indiranagar Metro Station, said – “Indiranagar faces a lot of traffic every day, irrespective of the time. Be it night or during the daytime, there are a lot of vehicles on this stretch of the road and throughout the year, there are many accidents that take place. The BMTC buses are too broad for this stretch of the road which  I believe was one of the reasons behind this particular accident.”

The trees in this area are known as the rain trees due to the insects that reside on them, like Cicadas amongst others. These insects release excreta which is similar to a honey-like texture that comes in contact with the rainwater and makes the road slippery. This makes passengers susceptible to skidding on this stretch of Indiranagar.

Kavita Raman is a resident of Magadi Road who travels to Indiranagar every day for work. The 28-year-old lawyer uses her two-wheeler as the mode of transport almost every day apart from the rainy season where she prefers to use the metro. She says, “I do not use my vehicle during the rainy season for this very reason. I have come across people who keep slipping on this stretch but I have not heard of anybody losing their life because of this.”

Karthik Nambiar is one such victim of the slippery stretch. The 37-year-old works for Haworth India and travels from Trinity to his office in Indiranagar. While emphasizing on the way he injured himself on the stretch, he said, “It was last year, in the month of September, while I was going back home at night after work, it was raining heavily and I was in a hurry to get back on time. There was a speed-breaker where I did not slow down as I overlooked it and that resulted in me skidding over as the bike landing on the slippery part of the road.

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