A truck mounted attenuator protected seven people, including three police personnel, when a speeding dumper lost control and crashed into the safety vehicle at a roadwork site on National Highway 12 in Howrah early on Friday.
The incident occurred near the Dankuni-lane railway overbridge in the Jaypur area, where road repairs were under way. Traffic on the stretch was being regulated and diverted because of the work. According to the report by Anandabazar, the dumper entered the controlled work zone, lost control and hit the specially designed vehicle positioned in front of workers and officials.
No injuries were reported among the workers, police personnel or other officials at the site. Workers told the publication that the dumper was travelling at high speed. The collision severely damaged the dumper, while the safety vehicle absorbed the impact and prevented it from reaching the people involved in the road repairs.
The vehicle is called a truck mounted attenuator, or TMA. Its large rear section is designed to act as a crash cushion. When a vehicle hits it at speed, the TMA absorbs and manages the force of the impact, reducing the likelihood that the errant vehicle will strike workers or traffic-control personnel directly.
The TMA involved in the Howrah crash was brought from Belgium. It is being used by a private company that has been awarded the maintenance work on the national highway. A company official told Anandabazar that such vehicles are placed where traffic is diverted to another lane, with the aim of reducing the risk of collisions inside roadwork zones.
The official said the company was using the imported equipment to protect workers during the ongoing repairs near the Dankuni lane of National Highway 12. The company also claimed that it was the first in West Bengal to use this type of vehicle for roadwork safety.
The incident highlights the specific risks created when live traffic continues to move alongside highway construction and maintenance activity. Workers, police officers and supervisors operating near temporary diversions depend not only on signs and traffic control but also on physical protection between them and moving vehicles. In this case, the TMA was positioned as a barrier before the work area and took the impact of the dumper.
The road maintenance agency has not provided further details in the supplied report about the condition of the dumper driver, the exact cause of the loss of control or whether any enforcement action followed. The reported next step is the continuation of maintenance work near the Dankuni lane with the specialised vehicle being used as part of the site’s worker-safety arrangement.
