Mumbai Traffic cops hit brakes on overspeeding at Marine Drive

Citing pedestrian movement and the presence of many residential buildings in the area, the Mumbai traffic police (MTP), after carrying out several tests, has said the speed limit at Marine Drive will not be increased beyond the current 60 kmph.

According to MTP, which carried out several tests at Marine Drive recently, said increasing the speed limit is definitely not on the cards, although it may consider reducing it even further.

"We are still stuck at 60 kmph when it comes to Marine Drive. A test was conducted recently, and we don't want to increase it because of the large number of pedestrians who visit here for their walks," an MTP official said.

The 4.5 kilometre stretch of Marine Drive between Nariman Point and Girgaum Chowpatty is home to several residential and commercial structures and many iconic buildings. Till date, over 1.50 lakh e-challans via MTP's CCTVs footage system have been issued for drivers overspeeding.

"Whatever speed limit currently exists will stay. It's not a highway, and there is no reason to increase the speed limits here. In fact, it may even reduce," the official said.

Moreover, residents have also said speed limits shouldn't be increased, as they already face problems of rash driving during the night hours and at weekends, which even result in accidents.

Mahendra Hemdev, resident of D-Road near Marine Drive, said, "Considering the number of tourists visiting Marine Drive is increasing, traffic police should put in place more measures to control speeding vehicles, many of whom have knocked down pedestrians."

"There are approximately 50 residential or commercial buildings along Marine Drive, and there have been constant over-speeding incidents along with jumping of signals by four-wheelers and two-wheelers," he added.

Meanwhile, the traffic police has in the past one year carried out several tests for speed limit revision on iconic roads, like Marine Drive and the Bandra-Worli Sea-Link (BWSL). In case of the latter, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had opposed increasing the speed limit, citing engineering factors along with terming it to be a city road where speed limit of more than 80-kmph should not be allowed.

No Need For Speed

• Current speed limit at Marine Drive: 60 kmph.
• Traffic Police monitors vehicles for overspeeding via CCTVs placed along Marine Drive.
• Traffic Police has said reducing Marine Drive speed limit isn’t feasible sonce the stretch is prone to pedestrian movement.
• There are even chances that the speed limits may be further reduced.