Mumbai: In the light of virus crisis, it was observed that the number of private cars plying on the city roads had drastically fallen in a data released by the Mumbai traffic police (MTP). The number of vehicles plied on three roads were recorded by the police, and the date showed key locations like Haji Ali junction, BKC Connector road and Bandra Worli Sea Link witnessed a decline. A senior police official said the downtrend for the low traffic was due to two citizens testing positive on March 9, which alarmed Mumbaikars as well as the authorities.
After the outbreak, the citizens became cautious and ensured that they stay indoors to protect themselves from contracting the virus. The precaution has led to a drastic decline in the number of vehicles, be it public or private, taking the roads. According to the data accessed by the Free Press Journal, the trends reveal a decline in the number of vehicles plied on otherwise busy roads.
Traffic police compared the number of vehicles that hit the road before and after the virus outbreak on February 28 and March 12, whose findings revealed the traffic on the busy Haji Ali recorded on the south-bound arm on the two dates saw a decline of 23 vehicles in the morning, with 546 vehicles plied in February and 523 plied in March. A similar trend was observed on the north-bound arm in the evening with a difference of 208 vehicles. While 924 private four-wheelerers plied on Haji Ali junction on February 28, only 716 were seen on March 12, after the corona outbreak.
Further, there was a fall in vehicles on Bandra Worli Sea Link with 822 cars in the morning on Feb 28 and 778 on March 12, on the south-bound arm, while the north-bound arm recorded 842 and 743 vehicles on those dates in the evening respectively. The third spot, where traffic cops compared the figures on the BKC Connector, recently opened for public, recorded a downtrend. While 850 vehicles used BKC connector on February 28, a steep fall of 22 vehicles was recorded on March 12 with 828 vehicles.
