50 deaths in five years, Pune’s NH-4 is ‘pedestrian death trap’

Bavdhan to Ravet has nowhere for pedestrians to cross highway. So, they run across the road, risking, and finding, death

As per police records present with the Hinjewadi police station, a 30-km stretch of highway on the NH 4 (national highway), has seen 50 fatal accidents involving pedestrians in five years (2014 to 2018).

When HT visited one of the mishap-prone spots on NH4 30-km stretch, at Wakad as cited in the petition, it was clear to see why pedestrians ended up as fatal casualties. Residents wanting to cross the highway simply ran, and oncoming traffic had no means to slow down or stop. (Sanket Wankhade/HT Photo)

The stretch in question covers the highway from Bavdhan to Ravet.

These facts of the matter came to light because a group of IT employees, car poolers at that, raised a petition to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), after they witnessed the death of a pedestrian crossing the highway near Balewadi this month.

The petition, ‘To build foot overbridge over NH-4 in Pune’, is addressed to the project director, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and specifically requests overbridges for pedestrians to cross the highway.

The 12-member group of techies united under the ‘safety for pedestrians’ banner and the petition has seen some major traction on social media as well.

Also, based on the petition, the Hinjewadi police cooperated and opened the police files to provide the statistics needed to show that this 30km NH4 stretch is a death trap in the making.

“With state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology, it is quite sad and painful, to see people have so much difficulty crossing a road – especially on highways, where there is high speed traffic. We have observed men, women and children crossing highways and meeting with accidents,” said Anita Jadhav, a resident of Pashan and one of the car poolers travelling to Hinjewadi who signed the petition.

Along with Jadhav, Arun Krishnan; Sachin Thakare; Sumanta Das; Samitabh Datta; Rajesh Pendke; Hrishikesh Kotian; Abhijeet Panghanti; Nitin Burande; Shishir Bhaskarwar; Mahesh Kothale; and Niranjan Mehta, are co-signatories on the petition.

“It is good to have excellent road infrastructure, but the roads need to be pedestrian friendly as well. Thus with this data that we collated, we approached National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials who showed interest in this approach,” said Sachine Thakare.

“We visited the Hinjewadi Police and collected data for the 30-km stretch from Bavdhan to Ravet for official count of accidents and deaths, and found out the most accident-prone locations - like opposite Indira College, Wakad, and the Mhalunge and Punawale Bridge,” added Thakare.

“Balewadi is problematic. Though there is a service road, connecting underpasses are far and not walkable. There are also many housing societies coming up. There is a problem. NHAI should plan better bus stops where there is accessibility,” said Anshul Gupta, Hinjewadi resident.

“Pedestrians and two-wheeler subways are required at the highway near Balewadi stadium. Currently many college students, ITians risk their lives crossing the highway at this spot. Also people drive on the wrong side on Wakad river bridge as there is no provision to cross the highway nearby,” said Ravindra Sinha, Baner-Pashan link road resident.

Bridge over highway a must, but design and location are key

The need for overbridges across this stretch of the national highway (NH4) is not felt by those traversing it alone.

Experts and government officials are of the view that as urbanisation reaches the service lanes of major highways, pedestrian traffic has to be accounted for by city and district planners.

Sub-inspector Vasant Gavari of Hinjewadi police station, under whose authority the 30km ‘death zone’ of NH4 falls believes an overbridge connecting Wakad near Indira College or running parallel to the Hinjewadi bridge is a must.

“We see atleast four people risking their lives daily crossing the highway. There are hardly any crossings along the highway, except for an underpass near Punawale chowk, which is very far for pedestrians. The foot overbridge must be built parallel at least connecting Wakad near Indira College, or the Hinjewadi bridge,” Gavari said.

As head of Parisar, and NGO involved with city activism covering a cross-section of issues including traffic, Ranjit Gadgil believes foot overbridges have been a failed experiment in the city of Pune.

“Based on experiences in the city, most foot overbridges have not been very useful at all. Authorities should take into consideration that the foot overbridge needs a disability factor, i.e a ramp or elevator for disabled and senior citizens working 24/7. If they do plan to build one, then they will have to redesign the junction to fit in all the modifications,” Gadgil says.

Specifically about the NH4 situation, Gadgils adds, “Foot overbridges are recommended on a highway which have no signals for vehicles. First the authorities will have to identify the areas along the highway where people tend to cross, as building just one foot overbridge will not solve the problem.”

Walking across this highway to hell

The petition filed with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) by 12 techies from Pune highlights the plight of people crossing a highway. The petition collated the police data to show 55 pedestrian accidents in five years over a 30 km stretch between Balewadi and Ravet.

Accident-prone locations 2014-2018

Some of the locations with number of fatalities :-

- Opposite Indira College - 5

-Opposite Gokul Hotel (Punawale) - 5

-Balewadi Stadium bus stand - 4

-Shell Petroleum - 4

- Audi showroom - 3

-Punawale bridge - 3

Year-wise pedestrian fatal accident data

Year - Number of deaths

2014 – 4

2015 – 10

2016 – 17

2017 – 10

2018 – 10