01 August,2011 07:08 AM IST | | Parth Satam
The deadly stretch on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway near Khandala claimed two lives yesterday, when a car headed towards the city hit a road divider and turned turtle. Mumbai-based businessman Merchant Jagdip Fatehsingh (65) and his wife Armaity Merchant, a prominent hair stylist, were admitted to the Lokmanya Hospital in Nigdi, where both succumbed to their injuries.u00a0u00a0
Police Sub Inspector Dilip Talpe of the Khandala Traffic Aid Post, said the couple's car hit the divider near Kilometer No.68 around 9.30 am, while negotiating a turn. "The car seemed to be speeding and it seems the driver lost control over the vehicle at the spot," said Talpe. "The turn is gradual but drivers do not always discern it and end up crashing into the divider. There was also not much traffic and the Expressway was empty, which must have tempted the driver to step up the accelerator.
Authorities have put up appropriate traffic signs on the roads intimating drivers of the nature of the road ahead, but motorists simply don't seem to follow. They fail to realise how helpful it can be if they manoeuvre their cars accordingly, after being intimated of the coming turn or exit.
The traffic flow can be streamlined without our help even if one driver follows the signs as the motorist behind him won't have to overtake or speed. He can comfortably make his next move." Ambulances from Ideal Road Builders, the contractors for the Expressway, arrived in about 30 minutes and took the injured to the Lokamanya Hospital. An official at Lokmanya's casualty ward said Jagdip was declared dead about one-and-a-half hours after admission. Armaity breathed her last around 7.30 pm yesterday.
