Three teenagers from Hyderabad who went tripling on a bike met with an accident on the Upper Tank Bund road, while trying to avoid hitting a pedestrian who was crossing the road.
Two of the youth died while their friend has been admitted to hospital.
The accident took place on Sunday morning at around 12:30 am. The two students who died have been identified as Vijay (19), a resident of Chintal and Manoj (19) of Kukatpally. Their friend Raisab Yadav survived, but he is said to be in a critical condition.
According to Gandhi Nagar sub-inspector M. Prasad, the boys had told their parents that they were going for a friend’s birthday party. The accident took place while they were heading towards Secunderabad.
Police told Deccan Chronicle, “CCTV footage showed they were driving triples and were riding at very high speeds. Vijay who was riding the bike applied break when a road-crossing pedestrian came in the way, but the bike skidded and they fell. The two would have survived the crash had they worn helmets.”
The three were rushed to Gandhi Hospital, where Manoj and Vijay died while undergoing treatment.
The Hyderabad Traffic Police has initiated various “Traffic Awareness Programmes” in the city mainly focusing on school and college-going children.
“We have officers visiting schools and colleges speaking to a few thousand students a day. The idea is that even if not all of them are listening, at least the message will sink into a few of them,” said K Babu Rao, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic.
This year, the Hyderabad City Police has recorded 90 road accident-related deaths, with 823 persons reported injured. There were 311 road-related deaths in 2017 with 2,387 injured. In 2016, the death toll stood at 405.