The Kalhatti Ghat Road, infamous for being one of the most dangerous roads in the Nilgiris for motorists, is being fitted with special roller crash barriers to make the 19 km stretch -- connecting Thalakundah in Udhagamandalam to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve -- safe.
According to officials, the roller crash barriers are a system engineered to prevent fatal road accidents, by absorbing and deflecting energy from an out-of-control vehicle that crashes into them. “Most of the accidents that occur along the road are from vehicles that descend too quickly, leading to brake failure,” said an official, adding that accidents are most common between hairpin bends 20 to 36.
“As these cars can no longer slow down, they crash through the existing steel barriers and tumble down the cliff, which have led to many fatalities in the past,” said an official from the Highways Department.
The purpose of the roller crash barriers are to absorb the impact from the vehicles and transfer the energy into the crash barrier which can rotate the car back onto the road, which officials hope will ensure no more fatalities occur along the road.
The barriers are being installed at eight locations along the Kalhatti Ghat Road. The eight locations have been identified as being most prone to accidents in the past.
The safety barriers are not the only precautions which have been taken to minimize accidents along the road. Following the death of five tourists whose car plunged off the road at the 35th hairpin bend in 2018, restrictions on vehicles allowed to descend using the roads were put in place. Vehicles from outside the district were only allowed to ascend using the road, while to get to Mudumalai from Udhagamandalam, motorists are being directed to take a detour via Gudalur.
The precautions have largely worked, with no fatal accidents being recorded along the stretch of road this year. However, the new roller crash barriers, which are being used for the first time in the State, will make the road much safer for vehicles, officials said.
