Faulty speed-breakers killed or severely injured maximum two-wheeler riders

A speed-breaker in Wadgaonsheri area, which comes under PMC limit.

OF THE 175 two-wheeler riders who lost their lives in the city till September this year, the Pune Police said at least 100 of them could have been saved if only the bikers had worn helmets. Traffic experts and civic activists, meanwhile, blamed the “abnormally-shaped” and “indiscriminately placed” speed-breakers across the city for the accidents.

According to the traffic police and experts, if riders were to be blamed for not adhering to the helmet rule, civic bodies and cantonment boards should also be held responsible for not putting in enough efforts towards raising awareness about public safety. Local residents, activists, experts and the traffic police, meanwhile, attributed maximum number of the accidents to the ‘dangerously laid-out’ speed-breakers.

In the multiple accidents reported from across the city, many of the victims have either lost their lives, sustained severe injuries or were left comatose for months, incurring huge expenditure on their families.

For instance, the family of one Amit Waghere (21), who was left in a comatose condition for at least a year after suffering a head injury in an accident in Pimpri in 2014, spent Rs one crore towards his treatment. Waghere, however, succumbed to his injuries later.

According to experts, such ‘unwieldy’ speed-breakers could be equally dangerous for those travelling in the bus, or any other vehicle. For instance, in June 2016, a 20-year-old civil engineer fell off a PMPML bus after it bumped into an ‘abnormally-shaped’ speed-breaker on the Pune-Mumbai Highway at Phugewadi.

On the day of the incident, Deepika Shivraj Mankoni, a resident of Chinchwad, was heading towards the Institute of Tool Design where she was pursuing a two-month course. Somewhere between Phugewadi and Dapodi, Deepika fell from the bus and sustained a head injury. A few days later she passed away.

The situation, activists argued, has remained unchanged for years. But, civic authorities or the police are still to decide as to what kind of speed-breakers can slow down vehicles and thwart accidents, they added.

Experts argued that within the limits of the Pune Municipal Corporation, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and the three cantonment boards, speed-breakers have been laid out in all shapes.

“They neither adhere to the Indian Road Congress norms nor are standardised in such a way that riders could guage their height and adjust their speed. The speed-breakers are placed where they are not required, they are not laid out where they are most required. Wrong selection of type, flawed design, construction defects, absence of proper markings and signage, insufficient illumination at the spot and also lack of maintenance is the story behind laying out speed-breakers, said experts, blaming city engineers and municipal commissioners for the pathetic plight of riders in Pune,” an expert said.

Civic activists also pointed out at the lack of seriousness on the part of civic authorities towards key public issues. Prashant Inamdar, covenor of Pedestrians First, said, “We had long been demanding formation of a committee to study the issues surrounding speed-breakers and recommend a comprehensive policy. Finally, an order for formation of a speed-breaker committee, under the chairmanship of additional municipal commissioner-special, was issued by the municipal commissioner on 06-08-16.”

“Despite the significance of the matter, the first meeting of the committee was held only after eight months, on 19-04-17. There was another meeting on 16-09-17 and the next is scheduled on 08-11-17. The overall progress, so far, has been tardy,” he added.

Inamdar said his organisation has been pursuing the matter with the civic bodies for several years. “Speed breakers are essential elements for road safety and traffic calming. They have become especially important, as wider roads and over-speeding often results in accidents,” he added.
Ill designed speed breakers, he said, cause acute discomfort to drivers and damage the vehicles even at low speeds. “In fact, most of these speed breakers have become traffic hazards. Faulty speed-breakers have led to several fatalities,” he added.