E-Paper
Car crashes into Pune-Mumbai expressway barricade: 1 dead
Vehicle turned turtle and Leelavati Sawant died on the spot, according to police, who added that her husband, Sakharam, escaped with minor injuries
Barricades erected on the Pune-Mumbai expressway because of repair work going on in the tunnels caused a car to crash killing one of the passengers.
Leelavati Sakharam Sawant (68), a resident of Tembhipada in Bhandup, was travelling in a Maruti Baleno (MH 03 CM 1455), along with her husband Sakharam Atmaram Sawant (68), and two other family members, when the car rammed into a barricade near Sinhgad College, on the expressway, at 8 am.
The vehicle turned turtle and Leelavati Sawant died on the spot, according to police, who added that her husband, Sakharam, escaped with minor injuries.
The car driver, identified as Mayur Porgaonkar, lost control of the vehicle and hit one of the barricades kept near the tunnel because of ongoing repair work, the Lonavla police said.
The police have booked the driver on charges of rash and negligent driving and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicle Act.
The central government had, through a notification issued in April 2018, increased the eway speed limit from 80 kmph to 120 kmph. However, due to a rising number accidents on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, the Maharashtra state traffic police have, in 2019, reduced the maximum speed limit for vehicles from 120 kmph to 100 kmph.
