MUMBAI, Sept. 22 -- : In the two-and-a-half years since its inauguration, the Coastal Road has witnessed 12 crashes involving high-end cars which have claimed at least seven lives -- the BMW crash of Sunday morning being the latest tragedy. An imaginative infrastructure project which was supposed to cut short the commute between south Mumbai and the western and northern suburbs, has become a challenge for the traffic police to monitor, as young drivers often pull off late-night stunts or recklessly speed.

The 10.58-kilometer signal-free eight-lane section running from the Princess Street Flyover to the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, is akin to what the Marine Drive was once upon a time, or an expressway is today. While the manda...