The Palghar police along with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Regional Transport Office (RTO), and Public Works Department (PWD) officials carried out an inspection at the 78 km stretch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in Palghar on Wednesday.
The police have given their suggestions which say there is a need to put up signages, rumble strips, and radium reflectors as a short-term measure to curb mishaps. The police said that the work is expected to be done in a fortnight's time.
“An inspection of the highway was conducted where we suggested what immediate measures have to be undertaken at the black spots. Once a proper road safety audit is completed, we would take detailed measures based on the suggestions recommended in the audit report,” said Superintendent of Police, Palghar, Balasaheb Patil.
According to the Union ministry of road transport and highways, a black spot is defined as any 500-metre stretch of national highway where five accidents involving fatalities or serious injuries have taken place in the preceding three calendar years or 10 fatalities have been recorded in the period.
Following the mishap in which former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger had died at the highway on September 4, the Palghar police had written to the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune to conduct a road safety audit of the black spots at national and state highways within the jurisdiction of Palghar.
According to the police, there are around 29 black spots in Palghar and the police want their audit to ascertain if there are any structural faults that lead to mishap and can be rectified by taking up the issue with the other authorities concerned.
