600 booked so far for speeding on sea link

A senior traffic police officer said,“Though we have booked around 600 motorists so far on the sea link for speeding,it is difficult to monitor the speed of vehicles on the sea link. Two policemen with speed guns are posted at both ends of the bridge and if any motorist is found speeding,the registration number and make are communicated to the officials at the other end who then intercept the vehicle and book the driver.”

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sanjay Barve said,“There is absolutely no place on the sea link where a traffic constable can be posted to monitor traffic. It’s too narrow to allow any personnel to be stationed there. It would be highly dangerous for any constable as he would run the risk of being mowed down by any speeding vehicle. Besides,owing to the narrow lanes,a traffic constable cannot even intercept a speeding vehicle in the middle of the road for fear of disrupting traffic.”

On the need for monitoring traffic on the sea link,Barve said,“Keeping in mind that vehicles on the sea link should be monitored for speeding,we have conducted a few meetings in our department and are in the process of devising new ways that can be used to help curb speeding on the sea link.”

A head-on collision between a taxi and a private Skoda car on the sea link had left two dead and two injured — one of them critical — around 8.15 am on Tuesday. The police said the accident was caused by speeding on part of Brijesh Kumar Singh (33),the driver of the Skoda,whose passenger — Ojas Mehta,a 14-year-old student of a school in Bandra Kurla Complex — was getting late for an examination.

The driver of the taxi,Rajkumar Sharma,escaped with a fractured hand while passenger MR Sitaram succumbed to injuries at the Bhabha Hospital. Brijesh Singh and Ojas were rushed to the Lilavati Hospital,where Ojas succumbed to injuries later.