Important thing is to prevent accidents from happening. Laws must be in place but the focus should be physical features that prevent cars moving at high speeds in by lanes and road junctions

There is a report that the driver of a Bollywood actor, while rushing in a Toyota Lexus in Bandra to take a tiffin box and an umbrella, hit a 70-year old pavement dweller at about 10.30pm. She died at the hospital. It is reported that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol.

Firstly, this is another occasion reported of an accident when a speeding car hit a person crossing the road in the Bandra Khar region. Unlike the last time that occurred at Khar Danda when the driver-owner stopped and took the pregnant woman and her husband to the hospital, in this case the driver had no such concern and fled to the police station at 1am fearing mob fury! When the 70-year old victim in the current accident was taken to the hospital, the story is as pathetic as it was then, except that the victim breathed her last outside the first hospital, as was reported in various media.

From various press reports one could say for sure that the driver was driving at high speed; he had to negotiate a near u-turn for which the speed was still high enough for him to have lost control, especially after he suddenly saw this lady crossing the road and tried to avoid hitting her but was late in doing so. The impact must have been severe enough to injure her sufficiently that she succumbed to injuries when taken to the hospital.

We know that it is next to impossible to police every nook and corner of Mumbai 24x7 and prevent speeding cars. Fear of punishment perhaps prevents many from driving rashly but there are always some who dare to defy, especially when the roads are empty. Cars are powerful and the probability of being caught violating speed limits being low, violations do take place, sometimes resulting in fatality.

Speed limits have been imposed firstly for the safety of other road users such as other motorcars, motorized two-wheelers, non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians; and secondly for the safety of the car user himself. Modern cars are designed to provide safety to the occupiers of the cars which give added confidence to car user and he tends not to slow down. It is important to drive within the prescribed speed limits and be concerned of everyone’s safety while driving. One must value life over everything.

“Stop & Proceed” used to be the road signage put up at every road junction and generally followed by motorists. This “slowing down” brought vehicles to speeds low enough to prevent accidents due to surprises like the Bollywood actor’s driver experienced at late night. We need to reintroduce the culture of “Stop and Proceed”. This cannot just be a campaign like “Halt before Stop Line” where at road level there was non-observance perpetrated by constables themselves, but through physical deterrent like a speed breaker. Drivers must also stop before the zebra crossings. All roads must have this raised zebra crossings at the entry and exit of every by lane with proper signage of stop and proceed prior to exit point. Similar provision needs to be made at any location that appears to be vulnerable.

The point is that the driver took the near u-turn at high speed and perhaps saw the lady all of a sudden. On the other hand, I have seen drivers, including owner drivers, not slowing down while they spot pedestrians crossing even at a pedestrian crossing with green signal for the pedestrian. Therefore the culture of defensive driving from all perspectives, especially from the pedestrian perspective has to be inculcated.

I myself experienced a rash near u-turn close to the bus stop where Vacha Gandhi Road meets Hughes Road (NS Patkar Marg). It was the valet of West Side (a mall) bringing out the car of a customer. Since I had just got down from the bus at about 8:30pm and was walking towards the footpath across the Vacha Gandhi Road that I saw this car coming speedily and I stopped just in time. I escaped getting hit by a whisker. I took up the issue up with West Side and pulled up the driver. Had someone been walking in the opposite direction, surely the person would have met with an accident as neither the driver would have seen the pedestrian not the pedestrian seen the speeding car approaching.

What is essential is to get people to drive slowly on by-lanes as though their own children are likely to surprise them by suddenly coming in front. Physical deterrents like raised footpaths at zebra crossings must also be introduced. This will hopefully make even a rash driver slow down at such speed breakers.

(Sudhir Badami is a civil engineer and transportation analyst. He is on Government of Maharashtra’s Steering Committee on BRTS for Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s Technical Advisory Committee on BRTS for Mumbai. He is also member of Research & MIS Committee of Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority. He was member of Bombay High Court appointed erstwhile Road Monitoring Committee (2006-07). While he has been an active campaigner against Noise for more than a decade, he is a strong believer in functioning democracy. He can be contacted on email at [email protected])