Biker crushed to death as cement mixer topples on him on Pune bridge

The accident caused a traffic jam on the Bengaluru-Mumbai corridor of the highway bypass. The officer added that the damaged vehicles were removed from the spot to restore traffic flow.

While the driver has been sent for medical tests and treatment, the deceased was shifted to Sassoon Hospital for post-mortem examination. Necessary legal action is being initiated in the case.

An accident-prone stretch

The Navale Bridge area has been on the list of accident-prone stretches in Pune for several years now. According to the norms set up by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and the Indian Roads Congress, the apex body of highway engineers in India, a patch of 500 metres of the road on which five or more accidents with fatalities or grievous injuries have taken place in three years is referred to as a ‘black spot’.

The District Level Road Safety Committee, chaired by the district collector, is the nodal authority that monitors ‘black spots’ and the remedial measures adopted by stakeholder agencies to reduce the risk factors on these road patches.

Between 2022 and 2024, Navale Bridge witnessed 12 deaths and seven critical injuries in accidents.

In November last year, in a major accident in the Navale Bridge area, a speeding truck collided with multiple vehicles, causing the death of seven people and leaving about 20 more injured.

In November 2022, a truck carrying gunny bags of rice went on to hit at least 48 vehicles, of which 24 were heavily damaged. Twenty-five people were injured in the accident.