Mumbai's killer roads: Speed demons make Kherwadi bridge hell

The spot is one of the busiest on the Western Express Highway Thousands of vehicles pass through this road some at great speed making the spot extremely vulnerable to accidents And during the night drivers often lose control of their vehicle and either smash into the divider or into another vehicle In 2017 alone there were four fatal accidents at this spotMangesh Kordes car that the bikers crashed into belowacircAcircAcircAcircAcircAcircu00c2u0080AcircAcircAcircAcircAcircu00c2u0088Mangesh KordeCase studies On February 14 2017 three women Mabel Banjani Christie 87 her daughter Matilda Khadatare 64 and grand daughterinlaw Kavita Khadatare were on their way to KEM hospital The trio was coming from Mira Road in an ambulance as Mabel was not feeling wellThey were supposed to pick up Mabels son near Kherwadi but before they could do that the ambulance hit the divider just at the beginning of the Kherwadi Bridge and turned turtle at around 1145pm While Mabel died Matilda fractured her hip and Kavita sustained multiple injuries not severeMabel Christie died after the ambulance she was in crashed into the divider on Kherwadi flyoverKavita and Matilda who are both trained nurses now fear travelling by road Kavita who is employed with a Hospital recalls the accident as the most terrifying of her life She feels extremely claustrophobic in fourwheelers especially ambulances She says traffic rules and their implementation need drastic improvement to curb such deadly accidents She also said that drivers often speed up once they find the roads relatively emptyOn April 23 2017 Kandivli resident Mangesh Korde 26 was on his way to town with his friends in his car to meet another friend Around 230am as their car was climbing on to Kherwadi Bridge something crashed into their car from the rear When they stopped to see what had happened they saw a motorbike had dashed into their carKavita Khadtare Nurse Accident victimThe pillion rider had sustained minor injuries whereas the bike rider Azim Shaikh 23 had sustained head injuries Mangesh and his friends immediately took both the injured to Bhabha Hospital Mangesh said Shaikh was referred to KEM hospital where he was put on ventilator as he had got a blood clot in his brain He died four days later Mangesh said he had noticed Shaikh riding rashly on the highwayProblems Rash driving Lane cuttingSolutions Stationing traffic cops to maintain traffic discipline and control vehicle speed especially during the night Signboards indicating speed limits on flyoverLocals speakKhatun Shaikhlocal resident and activistPeople need to be educated about such dangerous spots first only then will they fear speeding up and causing fatal accidents One needs to understand that speeding or rash driving may not only cause injury to themselves but also put others lives at risk The police too need to take stringent action against rash drivers so that others can learn a lesson and fear the lawSufiyan LakahniResident Bandra West My work as a property dealer requires me to travel to Bandra East often where I have to take the Kherwadi bridge I often spot motorists driving rashly and cutting lanes here and scaring safe drivers like me Traffic cops need to act very harshly against such rash drivers so that others dont end up paying the priceExpert speakAshutosh AtreRoad expertThis stretch of road needs to be widened and the signal timings need to be increased Also the trees and plants along the median and at the side of the roads that come in the way need to be removed Signboards need to be put up to make people aware of accident prone areas The traffic cops need to do a proper study and come up with concrete strategies to curb road accidents here Black spots are not permanent they can be reduced with strategic solutionsPolice speakR V RanePI in charge of this section at Kherwadi until 2 weeks ago He has now been transferred to D N Nagar police stationThe traffic police have been monitoring black spots regularly and trying every possible step to curb accidents On this particular spot two guards are deployed 12 hours a day to guide vehicles limit speed and get motorists to follow traffic rules We have also proposed that the BMC put up signboards around and at the spots indicating dangers aheadTotal Accidents 11For years 2017 and 2018 till July 31TYPES of accidentsAccidents on the stretch are mainly caused by motorists suddenly speeding up when the stretch looks empty Other reasons are motorists hesitating before climbing the flyoverTotal casualties 04 Death00 Seriously injured12 Minor injuriesSource Traffic departmentAlso read Killer roads Race to save time ends up costing lives outside Sahara StarCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates