A truck with suspected brake failure rammed into several other vehicles in Pune’s Navale Bridge area on Sunday night. (Express/Pavan Khengre)The major vehicle pile-up on Pune’s Navale Bridge Sunday night has once again brought to light many that the Katraj-Dehu road bypass of the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway has been grappling with over the past several years, with no concrete solution in sight.
The accident took place around 8.30 pm when a truck went out of the driver’s control on a downward gradient slope and hit at least 48 vehicles, 24 of which were badly damaged, following a suspected brake failure. Around 20 persons were injured and six of them were hospitalised while others required administration of first aid.
The 16-km bypass road facilitates passage of Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway traffic from the periphery of Pune city. For traffic management, the bypass falls under two police jurisdictions, Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The construction of the main road and connecting roads are under the purview of various agencies, including National Highway Authority of India, Central Public Works Department, municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad and other agencies.
A senior police officer said there are several infrastructural issues with this highway bypass. At some points, heavy vehicles move over a patch with a downward slope without being able to control speeds. We also see that to save on fuel, drivers of heavy vehicles switch off the ignition on downward slopes and end up not being able to apply brakes properly.
The officer added there are several road exit and entry points on the bypass from where the vehicles join connecting roads or leave the highway. These cause traffic jams and often vehicles end up hitting other vehicles, resulting in pile-ups. Recently, rumbler strips were installed at various locations to curtail the speed of vehicles, as speed breakers cannot be installed on the highway.
Independent researcher Tanmay Pendse, who lost his brother and Marathi actor Akshay Pendse and nephew in an expressway accident in December 2012, and has since then been doing extensive work on road safety, said, “One of the main issues faced by bypass road converging of two different traffic flows. One from the city, which mainly comprises bikes, rickshaws and light motor vehicles and the one from the highway is predominantly of heavy vehicles. In such cases, even minor infrastructural flaws or small driver errors can lead to serious accidents.”
“The situation once again calls for focus on the four ‘Es’ of traffic safety. education – which means awareness among the drivers, engineering – it encompasses right from the presence of the right kind of reflectors to major structural defects, enforcement – is how police enforce the rules and emergency response – is about how quickly medical aid can be given,” Pende added.