Mumbai: Irregular Juhu speed breaker at crash spot removed

The speed breaker that was partly responsible for Friday morningrsquos fatal mishap involving a drunk driver has been removed BMC officials scraped off the bump which was outside a petrol pump in Juhu located just a few metres from the accident spot on Saturday eveningAccording to sources the speed breaker lacked the correct dimensions and was not even painted white as stipulated by the rules Locals said the bump would throw both twowheelers and fourwheelers off balance because of its improper height and also because they could not see it beforehandAfter The BMC removed the speed breaker near HP Petrol Pump Excel Service Station at JVPD Scheme on Saturday PicSatej SindeAdhvaryu Vijay Bandekar 27 was behind the wheel of his motherrsquos BMW He was speeding in a narrow lane and failed to see the bump which caused the vehicle to crash into a parked truck and autorickshawAlso read BMW crash victim was in the city for laser surgeryAs reported by midday on May 13 29yearold air hostess Pallavi Bhattacharya lost her life in the accident A day later the BMC removed the bumpSpecifications ignoredAccording to the governmentrsquos rules speed breakers should have a radius of 17 m a height of 10 cm and a width of 37 m to maintain a vehicular speed of 25 kmph for general trafficThe BMC scraped off the speed breaker near HP Petrol Pump Excel Service Station at JVPD Scheme Juhu as seen on Sunday PicSatej ShindeBandekar who was accompanied by Bhattacharya and two other friendsmdashAmit Khare 38 and Bharti Rai 27mdashhad been driving at a speed of at least 120 kmph at the time of the incident The friends had gone to a bar and restaurant at Sakinaka to party While returning Bandekar decided to drop Rai and Khare at a Juhubased hotel at 330 amA police officer said ldquoWhen Bandekar reached the accident spot he didnrsquot realise there was a speed breaker There was no thermoplastic white paint which could have alerted him Neither were reflectors or signboards visible Due to this Bandekarrsquos car flew into the air However the driver who was going too fast is to blamerdquoExpertsrsquo viewsTransport expert A V Shenoy told midday ldquoEach speed breaker should have a coat of paint that is visible to the driver so that they can apply the brakes at some distance Thermoplastic white paint is important because the driver should get sufficient time to brake at a distance At this spot there was a speed breaker on which there was no such paintrdquoldquoIn the city there are many speed breakers but they do not abide by the dimensions specified by the Indian Road Congress Why did the BMC remove this speed breaker after the accident The civic body had installed it because of the slum at this spot Many people cross the road and kids also play on it Instead of installing speed breakers there should be ramblers at this spot to reduce the speed of vehicles This will also help pedestrians to cross the road easilyrdquo he statedAnother transport expert Vidyadhar Date said ldquoIn this particular case the driver was negligent He should have driven the car below the speed limit The accident spot is a narrow lane The driver was irresponsible We all know Mumbairsquos roads are bad but there are no excuses Drivers should take precautions even on the best roadsrdquoThe BMC Public Relations Officer Tanaji Kamble did not respond to middayrsquos calls at the time of going to print12 MayDay accident occurred