Freewheeling trailer rams 4 vehicles on perilous Katraj-Kondhwa bypass

PUNE: Khadi Machine Chowk on the Katraj-Kondhwa bypass is turning out to be a prime place for all sorts of accidents.
A speeding trailer hit four vehicles, including a sports utility vehicle, outside Adarsh Hospital around 11am on Tuesday. No one was injured, but the ghastly accident halted traffic for nearly 90 minutes.



The trailer transporting iron plates was on its way to Khadi Machine Chowk from Katraj. The driver inexplicably lost control over the vehicle and hit a car on the driver's side. His trailer pressed the car on the left side and when the driver realised what had happened, he abandoned the trailer by jumping out of the vehicle, leaving it running.

The freewheeling trailer then hit two cars and an SUV with such force that the SUV was flung into air and landed on top of another car.

A team from the Kondhwa police and traffic division rushed to the spot after the accident created a huge traffic congestion. A crane was commissioned to move the vehicles to the roadside.

Amit Parekh, one of the car owners, told TOI, “I was on my way to Uruli Devachi via the bypass. I was driving at a normal speed but an uncontrolled trailer coming from behind first hit my car from the right side. The driver then tried to run me off the road and pushed my car to the left. He then drove ahead and jumped out from the moving trailer. The vehicle still in gear hit three vehicles one after another. The vehicle stopped after hitting a dumper. We all escaped unhurt. It was a miracle.”

Scrap dealer Somnath Kamble said, “I was standing outside the shop and was waiting for a goods vehicle to arrive when I saw a trailer hitting a car and three other vehicles. The trailer dragged three cars for some distance, but stopped after hitting a dumper because that driver braked. If he had not done so, the vehicle would have hit more vehicles. Many of us rescued the car owners after opening their doors.”

Kondhwa police’s assistant inspector Chetan More said, “We have booked the driver, Abdul Hakikulla from Uttar Pradesh, for rash and negligent driving and causing damage to vehicles under the IPC and Motor Vehicles Act. We have seized the trailer.”

Inspector Chandrakant Nimbalkar in-charge of the Kondhwa police traffic division said, “The accident in the middle of the bypass halted vehicles from both sides.”