The 18 fatal traffic “black spots” Pune police want you to watch for when on the road
According to a May 25 report in HT, the police and the civic administration had marked the urban locales prone to fatal accidents, however, a list of specific roads, junctions, blind turns and roundabouts has now been released
Post the November 25 accident in front of the Rajiv Gandhi Zoo at Katraj, that resulted in the death of 25-year-old medical student Ekta Prabhakar Kothawade, Pune police have identified 18 fatal accident-prone chowks or “black spots” in the city.
According to a May 25 report in HT, the police and the civic administration had marked the urban locales prone to fatal accidents, however, a list of specific roads, junctions, blind turns and roundabouts has now been released.
Pankaj Deshmukh, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) said, “Multiple accidents have taken place at the spot where the medical student lost her life due to the uneven levelling of the road. We have conducted a review of black spots in the city and found a total of 35. This we further filtered in accordance with levels of fatality. We have identified a total of 18 fatal black spots in Pune. Commuters must drive carefully while driving via these spots.”
“If there is a need of engineering intervention, we will coordinate with concerned agencies such as Pune Municipal Corporation and Cantonment boards,” added DCP Deshmukh.
“For a chowk or area to be labelled black spot, a minimum of five fatal accidents have to have taken place in the past year. There are chowks and areas that used to be fatal that have not made it to the list, since we worked on them with the help of concerned agencies,” said DCP Deshmukh.
Aniruddha Pawaskar, head, PMC road department said, “Our officials have visited the blind spots and we have spoken about repairing these spots with traffic police department. We will try to complete the work on these black spots by next year.
Bharat Thite, a resident of Katraj chowk said, “I pass through the main Katraj chowk on a daily basis on my way to work since the past 10 years. I have personally seen 100 accidents at the chowk. There is no proper monitoring of vehicles at the chowk and the situation worsens when the traffic signals do not work.”
Another resident Sagar Shirodkar from Hadapsar said, “Gadital chowk is very crowded and has various infrastructure issues which need repair. PMPML buses ply the route at high speeds and pedestrians risk their lives trying to cross the chowk.” 
Prashant Inamdar, convenor, Pedestrians First organisation said, “There are two things that need to be kept in mind in relation to understanding black spots. First officials need to check the basic design and infrastructure of these chowks. Secondly, officials need to ensure that road marking, defective lighting is taken care of. Authorises have to also ensure regular maintenance of these roads. Lack of regular maintenance is seen many a time which leads to accidents at such black spots.”