Nagpur: A pathologist riding pillion suffered severe head injuries while her daughter who was riding the two wheeler escaped unhurt on Monday morning when the rider lost control of vehicle near police headquarters on Katol Road where a big speed-breaker had come up overnight. The daughter was going to drop her mother at latter’s office in Sadar before heading to college as usual but she failed to notice the speed-breaker which was without any white stripes or radium blocks. The college student was wearing a helmet. The woman is recovering in ICU after a surgery.
A day before, a couple from Borgaon and a staffer from traffic branch too had a miraculous escape when they couldn't spot the speed-breaker.
In the last couple of days, several accidents have taken place at the spot but all have gone unreported. The stretch from Old Katol Naka to Gittikhadan on Katol Road is relatively safe since just four accidents, as per traffic police records, have taken place on it.
This has raised a question on the need here for a speed-breaker, which appears to be in violation of Indian Roads Congress (IRC) guidelines as well as that of Bombay High Court ruling. IRC norms say speedbreakers can’t be laid on highways while the HC had ordered seeking permission of local police before construction of a speed breaker in 2005.
The Gittikhadan police seemed to be unaware of which agency had built the speed-breaker as well as accidents it was causing.
On Tuesday, Senior PI Rajkamal Waghmare told TOI accident because of the speed-breaker was reported. He admitted that it had come up all of a sudden and the cops’ vehicle too had received a jerk during routine patrol a day ago Waghmare speculated someone might have written to the department concerned following accidents at the spot. “A couple of accidents due to overspeeding had taken place there sometime back,” he said.
State Public Works Department (PWD) officials couldn’t be contacted till late Tuesday evening.
Khalil Khan, a relative of the head-injury victim, said there was no need for the speed-breaker. “A signboard or white paint could have been put up to warn riders. Daily road users aren’t able to see it and accidents will continue to take place,” he said.
