Pune: According to a police official, the driver of the truck that collided with several vehicles on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Maharashtra's Pune district and caused a pile-up had apparently switched off its engine on a bridge slope, resulting in the accident. According to a Regional Transport Office (RTO) investigation into the accident, turning off the engine affects the vehicle's braking ability, which may have resulted in the truck colliding with other vehicles on the bridge slope on Sunday. A truck lost control on the downward slope of the Navale bridge on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway in Pune late Sunday evening, damaging at least 24 vehicles.
NCP leader Supriye Sule on Pune truck accident
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule, a Lok Sabha member from the Pune district, paid a visit to the accident site on Monday. Sule stated in a tweet that she spoke with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), police, and the National Highway Authority of India officials. "They all will visit the spot to assess it and taking that report, we will meet Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and discuss what measures can be taken to make this road accident free," she tweeted. She believes that making the Road Safety Act more effective is essential.
नवले पूल येथील अपघात दुर्दैवी आहे.येथे सातत्याने होणाऱ्या अपघातांबाबत लोकसभेत २०२१ साली प्रश्न उपस्थित केला होता.त्यावेळी केंद्रिय रस्ते व महामार्ग मंत्री मा. @nitin_gadkari यांनी रस्त्याच्या कामातील अडचणी दूर होऊन रस्त्याचे काम आगामी ६ महिन्यांत पुर्ण होईल असे आश्वासन दिले होते. https://t.co/W4YQTdp6v3
— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 21, 2022
Truck driver fled from the spot
The absconding truck driver, identified as Maniram Yadav, was charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Motor Vehicles Act. According to police, the driver fled the scene of the accident and was being sought. Sunil Pawar, Assistant Commissioner of Police, stated, "The probe by the RTO indicates that the truck driver might have switched off the engine by turning off the ignition while on the slope. If the engine is switched off, it affects the vehicle's braking ability. That is how the truck might have gone hitting the vehicles on the slope." The truck was from Tamil Nadu and was heavily loaded with some goods, he said.
Truck rammed into his car
A man, whose car was damaged in the accident, had said the speeding truck first rammed into some of the vehicles on the road, which in turn hit some other vehicles leading to the pile-up. "Our car was also hit. We were four people in the vehicle and fortunately, nothing happened to us as the airbags opened, but we saw that several vehicles around us on the road were badly hit," he said.
"Citizens also need to follow all the traffic rules. If there are service roads, good footpaths, and traffic rules are followed, it will definitely help reduce the accidents," Sule tweeted. She said it is necessary for the PMC to make a service road at this place (the accident spot), but it has not been done. "At the same time, it is also necessary to take measures to reduce the slope at the spot with the help of experts," she said.
(With PTI inputs)
