Mumbai: An 82-year-old pedestrian headed to meet his granddaughter on Sunday lost his life after a teenage motorcyclist rammed into him on Lokhandwala Back Road in Andheri West. Versova police registered an FIR against the motorcyclist, 18-year-old Rachit Singh, for rash driving and negligence. The teenager has been admitted to hospital.The grief-stricken family of the victim, Radhakrishna K P Menon, has demanded pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and stricter enforcement on Lokhandwala Back Road, where other serious crashes have also been reported in the past.Menon used to walk down a few kilometres every evening from his home in Four Bungalows to his son’s residence in S V P Nagar to meet his granddaughter. “I used to often argue with him that the roads were not safe for the elderly and that he should be taking an auto or an app cab,” said his son, Sreejit.On Sunday, Sreejit received a phone call from his father’s number around 7.25 pm. “I started speaking in our mother tongue, Malayalam, when I was interrupted by a stranger’s voice. He said my father was injured in a road crash and I should rush to the location near Second Cross Lane,” said Sreejit.Not convinced about the authenticity of the caller, Sreejit dialled his mother who confirmed that his father was out for his evening walk. When Sreejit rushed to the location, his father was lying unconscious on the street, his body massively impacted from the crash. Passersby said the teen motorcyclist was also injured. He was taken to hospital.Sreejit said the pavement, on the route his father took, was in shambles. “Pedestrian-friendly infrastructure cannot be an afterthought if we have to ensure the safety of the elderly,” he said.The devastated family cremated Menon on Monday.“We have proposed to the traffic department to install automatic number plate recognition cameras that will capture speeding vehicles and generate challans. Strict enforcement is key for road safety,” said Dhaval Shah of the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens’ Association. Shah added that the teenager was riding a powerful bike at a high speed, which must be investigated by the police.In March 2025, a 54-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter had suffered severe injuries after a speeding car hit them on Lokhandwala Back Road while they were out for a walk. The motorist — a 19-year-old college-goer — collided into a parked bus after hitting the two women and fled.
