15 May,2023 06:02 AM IST | Mumbai | Shirish Vaktania
Before: The bump on Friday, after the accident. Pic/Sameer Markande
The speed breaker that was partly responsible for Friday morning's fatal mishap involving a drunk driver has been removed. BMC officials scraped off the bump, which was outside a petrol pump in Juhu, located just a few metres from the accident spot, on Saturday evening.
According to sources, the speed breaker lacked the correct dimensions and was not even painted white, as stipulated by the rules. Locals said the bump would throw both two-wheelers and four-wheelers off balance because of its improper height and also because they could not see it beforehand.
Adhvaryu Vijay Bandekar, 27, was behind the wheel of his mother's BMW. He was speeding in a narrow lane and failed to see the bump, which caused the vehicle to crash into a parked truck and auto-rickshaw.
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As reported by mid-day on May 13, 29-year-old air hostess Pallavi Bhattacharya lost her life in the accident. A day later, the BMC removed the bump.
According to the government's rules, speed breakers should have a radius of 17 m, a height of 10 cm and a width of 3.7 m to maintain a vehicular speed of 25 kmph for general traffic.
Bandekar, who was accompanied by Bhattacharya and two other friends - Amit Khare, 38, and Bharti Rai, 27 - had been driving at a speed of at least 120 kmph at the time of the incident. The friends had gone to a bar and restaurant at Sakinaka to party. While returning, Bandekar decided to drop Rai and Khare at a Juhu-based hotel at 3.30 am.
A police officer said, "When Bandekar reached the accident spot, he didn't realise there was a speed breaker. There was no thermoplastic white paint which could have alerted him. Neither were reflectors or signboards visible. Due to this, Bandekar's car flew into the air. However, the driver, who was going too fast, is to blame."
Transport expert A V Shenoy told mid-day, "Each speed breaker should have a coat of paint that is visible to the driver so that they can apply the brakes at some distance. Thermoplastic white paint is important because the driver should get sufficient time to brake at a distance. At this spot, there was a speed breaker on which there was no such paint."
"In the city, there are many speed breakers but they do not abide by the dimensions specified by the Indian Road Congress. Why did the BMC remove this speed breaker after the accident? The civic body had installed it because of the slum at this spot. Many people cross the road and kids also play on it. Instead of installing speed breakers, there should be ramblers at this spot to reduce the speed of vehicles. This will also help pedestrians to cross the road easily," he stated.
Another transport expert, Vidyadhar Date, said, "In this particular case, the driver was negligent. He should have driven the car below the speed limit. The accident spot is a narrow lane. The driver was irresponsible. We all know Mumbai's roads are bad, but there are no excuses. Drivers should take precautions even on the best roads."
The BMC Public Relations Officer Tanaji Kamble did not respond to mid-day's calls at the time of going to print.
12 May
Day accident occurred
