Speeding kills wide-road advantage

Of these,the majority of the accidents took place in Viman Nagar.

From January 2011 to March 2011,there have been 11 fatal accidents,nine serious and six minor mishaps under the jurisdiction of the Vimantal police station.

Vandana Patil,who lives in the area,said,“Viman Nagar is connected to the New Airport Road at various junctions where roads have been widened and newly started malls,colleges and IT parks have resulted in an increase in traffic and haphazard driving.”

According to Manoj Patil,Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic branch),the New Airport Road,350 feet wide, takes a heavy traffic and is responsible for most accidents. The road had been widened in the first place to set up a Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS).

“There is a plan to implement the BRTS on this road,because of which the road had been widened. However,unless the BRTS is put in place,vehicles will tend to speed resulting in accidents. Although construction of a subway is on,implementation of the BRTS will control vehicles’ speed reducing chances of accidents,” Patil said.

Jeevan Mahabali,another resident,said that crossing the Pune-Ahmednagar Nagar Road at junctions like Weikfield IT Park was an exercice fraught with risks as there is little time between two signals to allow pedestrians to cross.

Mandira Parmar,who works at a nearby IT Park,says she prefers to take the office pick-up for the 2.5 kilometre journey as it stressful and risky to drive in peak hours on this road.