Cyrus Mistry: Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway’s 100-km stretch claimed over 60 lives this year

One of the road accidents that has caught attention of many people in India was the Mercedes-benz crash which resulted in death of Cyrus Mistry. The accident happened on September 4 and investigation is still going on in the matter. Probe agencies from around the world are investigating the accident. An official data that has now been released shows that the 100 km stretch on which former chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry lost his life has taken many more lives this year. Till now, the stretch has claimed at least 62 lives this year.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway between Ghodbunder in Thane and Dapchari in Palghar district has seen as many as 262 accidents this year. In these accidents around 62 people have reportedly lost their lives and 192 people escaped with injuries. In most of the cases, the reason for the accidents were over-speeding and also the error of judgement for the driver part. Police officials added that along with this, the poorly maintained road, lack of road signs and absence of any kind of measures to control the speed of the vehicles were also to be blamed.

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Coming back to Cyrus Mistry’s accident, it was earlier found that the faulty design of the bridge on which the accident happened was also a reason for the crash. A forensic team investigating the matter had confirmed the same. The parapet wall of the bridge was protruding into the shoulder lane. Talking to PTI, Maharashtra highway police said, the stretch near Charoti where the accident happened is a black spot and in this year alone, the stretch has seen 26 deaths in 25 major accidents.

The stretch near Charoti is a three-lane highway and it has a curve before it gets to Surya river bridge while travelling towards Mumbai. Before the bridge, the road narrows from a three-ane highway to a two-lane one. The lack of speed curbing measures and road signs make things difficult for drivers on this stretch. The road comes under National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) but the maintenance and toll collection is being done by a private firm.

It was earlier found that Cyrus Mistry and his friend Jehangir Pandole were in the rear seat of the Mercedes-Benz. Both of them were not wearing seat belts and that is one of the main reason why they lost their lives. Both of them died on spot due to the impact of the accident. Anahita Pandole and Darius Pandole who were sitting in the front seat were wearing seat belts and survived the crash with injuries. Both of them are being treated in a hospital in Mumbai.

After the incident, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced that seat belts for rear passengers would be made mandatory. Some states have already implemented it and have started fining people who are not wearing seat belts while sitting on the rear seat. The Union Minister also mentioned that seat belt reminder notification sound for rear passengers will soon become a standard feature across all the cars in the country.

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