At 7.45 am today, a six-seater autorickshaw turned turtle after colliding into the recently built speed-breaker outside the LIC offce on Murbad Road. The driver Bhaskar Patil (55), whose head banged onto the road, died on the spot. According to eyewitnesses, there wasn't much traffic, and the driver was not speeding away. Hotelier Divakar Shetty said that by the time people rushed to the overturned vehicle, the driver who was bleeding profusely had breathed his last.

``The speed-breaker was built on March 1, 1999 along with two others on the same road on recommendations from traffic police,'' said city engineer P K Ugle, adding, ``People complained when there were no speed-breakers and are complaining when we have built them.''

A circular from theInspector General of Police (traffic) dated July 24, 1998 clearly stipulates that the height of a speed-breaker should be 10 cms, and the width 3.7 m in a gently gradiating curve. ``The driver should not lose directional control or damage his vehicle,'' says the circular, while prescribing the qualities a speed-breaker should have.

However, when this reporter conducted a random survey and measured heights of 23 speed-breakers along Santoshi Mata Road, Murbad Road and Birla College Road, it was found that the height exceeded 12 cms in 18 cases, and 10 speed-breakers had a width of 2 m and below. While none of the speed-breakers were preceded by the mandatory board 10 m ahead warning motorists, only five had been painted with the stipulated zebra markings. The city engineer denied the speed-breakers were not built as per specifications. ``We follow the Indian Road Congress' (IRC) specifications,'' explained Ugle, adding, ``the width specified is only 2 m. We follow that.''

Kalyan traffic police in-charge BG Gaikwad rued KDMC's apathy towards citizen's safety. ``Once a speed-breaker is made by KDMC, it's binding on them to seek our approval that it suits safety specifications,'' pointed out Gaikwad, adding, ``I don't remember a single occasion when the public works department got back to us after their work was done.'' Ugle denied this. ``Why will we not follow rules?'' he asked.

However, he had no satisfactory answer to offer as to why warning boards were not put up and zebra stripes not painted over 12 days after the speed-breaker was made. ``We have different contractors handling the construction, painting and putting up of boards, so it takes time,'' he said.

The other problem is that of street lights. Sunil Pingle (29), a resident of Brahmin alley near Purnima theatre, who is battling for life in the trauma-care centre of Sion Hospital could have been saved if the street lights on Murbad Road had been working. Sunil was driving to Kalyan on his mobike when he hit the same speed-breaker on March 1 (theday it was made) at around 8.30 pm. He has suffered a crack to his skull and multiple injuries on his neck and face. ``Without lights and zebra markings it is difficult to make out a speed-breaker,'' pointed out Anthony, who works in an electronics shop across the road on which the speed-breaker stands. After this reporter's meeting with the city engineer, work on painting the stripes was undertaken late this evening.

Mayor Anita Dalwi, when asked for a comment said, ``I was busy with the KDMT elections and the victory rally later, so I haven't heard of the matter yet.''