Mumbai's killer roads: Why Chunabhatti stretch is accident prone

Priyadarshini CircleChunabhattiThis stretch which is around a kilometre long is one of the most important and among the busiest roads in the central suburbs Mumbaikars use it to travel to Thane and Navi Mumbai as well as to south and central Mumbai It is an eightlane road which has no speed limit especially at night when people drive rashly and cause accidents The stretch itself has a flawed design which is somewhat like a seesaw near the Priyadarshini Circle another reason why accidents occur hereCase studY A 16yearold boy Sohail Patel and his friend Altamas Shaikh who were on a scooter died after they were knocked down by a dumper near Somaiya ground in June last year Sohail the rider and Altamas were heading towards south Mumbai to buy some clothes for Eid His mother Hafiza said On the day of the accident around 1245 am Sohail had left home and taken the keys of his uncles new Activa Hed also taken R2000 from me to buy a few pairs of kurtas and jeans There were 16 of his friends with eight bikes between them she recalledSohail Patels left mum Hafiza centre says he was the only one of her four sons who looked after her Shameem Shaikh right mother of Altamas who was with Sohail when the accident happenedAround 128 am I got a call from one of his friends telling me that Sohail had met with an accident I went numb with shock Sohail was a good rider I began to cry and my neighbours took me to Sion hospital As soon as we reached the doctor told us that Sohail had been brought dead as he had severe head injuriesHafiza added Sohail was the only one of my four sons who took care of me He had studied until Std VII and dropped out of school after that He was an expert in mobile phones and had always wanted to open his own mobile phone shopAltamas 19 was riding pillion with Sohail His mother Shameem Shaikh said We never allowed him to ride bikes fearing exactly this kind of accident But he would defy us on the sly That day hed had dinner and told us that he was going out shopping with his friends I told him to take care of himself and specifically told him not to ride a bike And yet he still lost his life she saidProblemsgt Long stretch which has no navigatorsgt Heavy vehicles and luxury buses moving at great speedSolutionsgt Navigation boards should be put up in radium so that they are easily visible to drivers even during the nightgt The seesaw road should be levelledTotal Accidents10For years 2017 and 2018 till July 31Types of accidentsPeople randomly cross the large stretch of road in the middle of traffic Cars and bikes crashing into each other as there are no signals at points where several roads meetTotal casualties05Deaths02Major injuries05Minor injuriesSource Traffic departmentLocalspeakVinay Yadav 47 Chunabhatti residentThree roads meet on this stretch and vehicles coming from Sion always move at high speeds So when say another vehicle coming from Sewri tries to get on to the same road at the same time as vehicles taking a turn towards Kurla accidents happen There should be navigation boards put up clearly showing the signals and there should also be a traffic island built in the middle of the road so that drivers have greater control over their vehiclesJitendra Jadhav 27 Chunabhatti residentI have been living in this locality since I was born and have seen people crossing the roads day in and day out racing to the other side in the middle of speeding traffic There have been many accidents here because of that There is just one foot overbridge on the entire stretch and too far for some to access hence people are not keen on using it preferring to race across the road to save timeExpertspeakJitendra Gupta traffic expertThis area is surrounded by slums so there is a lot of pedestrian movement on the road right in the middle of highspeed highway traffic People try to cross the road here to get to Chunabhatti stationPolicespeakMadhav More senior inspector Chunabhatti police stationEarlier at Priydarshini Circle drivers used to take sudden Uturns or left or right turns on the highway When BMC found out that this was the reason for accidents here they closed the circle to reduce the number of mishaps But because this is a junction where the flyover ends and from where people take a left turn from the highway it confuses motorists and bikers leading to accidents People need to control speed hereDo you have a Killer storyWrite to us and send us photos on mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates