Bikers still zoom on risky JJ Flyover despite ban: NGO

In the last three months, the traffic police have penalised more than 120 motorcycle riders who travelled on the JJ Flyover in spite of the ban on two-wheelers there.

In the last three months, the traffic police have penalised more than 120 motorcycle riders who travelled on the JJ Flyover in spite of the ban on two-wheelers there.

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Despite this, the traffic police claim that the ban has been a success and there have been no accidents since the restriction.

The traffic police had imposed the ban on April 1, after they observed that the JJ Flyover has the highest number of fatal accidents involving two-wheelers.

The traffic police claim that two wheelers often over-speed and are prone to accidents at the three curves at the flyover identified by them.

“The flyover is not straight and has a couple of bends and sharp turns, and two-wheelers tend to negotiate these at a high speed, resulting in accidents because of loss of control or scraping the divider,” said Nandkumar Chougule, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

A non-governmental organisation called Mumbaikars For Peace And Community Togetherness (IMPACT) said that two-wheelers are seen on the flyover when there is no constable or supervision after 9.00 pm and before 9.00 am especially from the CST entrance of the flyover.

“We are thankful that there have been no accidents so far, but there is no guarantee,” said Mubin Solkar, advocate and president of IMPACT, which filed a PIL in the Bombay High Court in April, to lift the ban. “Our only contention is that the ban should be levied during non-peak hours,” added Solkar.

The traffic police said that the motorcycle riders do not pay heed to the constables deployed.

“The motorcycle riders sometimes come towards us at a speed of 130km/hr and it becomes difficult to stop them," a traffic policeman on duty at the flyover said, on condition of anonymity.

“It is not possible for the police to deploy supervision on the flyover 24 hours a day. However, we penalise riders caught travelling on the flyover. We also conduct nakabandis at regular intervals,” Chougule said.