A man and a woman were injured when the car they were travelling in hit the median divider on EM Bypass, near Science City, around 2.25am on Sunday.

Police said the owner of the car, Bhaskar Singh, 29, a resident of Danesh Sheikh Lane in Howrah, was at the wheel. With him was Ilora Das, 24, a resident of Kestopur.

“A preliminary investigation suggests that the vehicle suddenly lost control and rammed into the median divider. The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained,” said an officer of Calcutta police’s traffic department.

The man and the woman were taken to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, from where their families shifted them to a nursing home in Shibpur, the police said.

Senior officers in the traffic department said speeding was one of the causes of accidents between 11pm and 6am, a period marked with reduced police vigil on roads.

“People tend to speed up on relatively empty roads at night, ignoring the condition of the road surface and the capacity of the vehicle’s engine,” said an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner.