Maharashtra Highway Police has penalised 18,125 vehicles for violating traffic rules on the Mumbai Pune Expressway last month in a desperate attempt to bring down the number of accidents and fatalities due to speeding. While most violators were caught for speeding, other violations included not wearing seatbelts, cutting lanes, talking on phone while driving and using tinted glass windows.
With an aim to decrease the number of road fatalities recorded in the state, the Maharashtra Highway State Police (HSP) has begun taking stringent action against motorists who violate the speeding laws on the roads in all the possible means available to them. As a part of the action, police have booked the violators and imposed fines on the motorists who were caught crossing the speeding limits.
Taking cue from the various CCTVs installed and the interceptor vehicles stationed along the Mumbai Pune Expressway, the process of imposing fines was escalated and over 18,125 violators were booked in September. Of those, 10,115 were caught for overspeeding, while the rest 8,010 were caught violating other traffic rules, like not wearing a seatbelt and talking on the phone, amongst others.
"Our main aim is to reduce accidents and ensure smooth vehicular movement, which needs awareness. While at many parts the road is damaged, the road agencies too are stepping up their game and showing willingness to rectify them," said a senior traffic official. To aid police efforts, the agencies have successfully removed black spots at some places, said police.
The stringent action against speeding motorists was put in force after Dr Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Additional Director General of Police (Traffic), Maharashtra asked the personnel to pull up their socks and show a strong front. Moreover, acting on Upadhyay' orders, police have conducted the orientation of over 7,000 drivers, whose response is quite good. Police counsel them, talk to them, try to make them aware of rules and tell them the disadvantages of drinking and driving.
Speeding one of the main causes of road fatalities recorded in 2019
Recent data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) stated that over 48 per cent of the fatal road accidents recorded last year in Mumbai was due to rash driving. The year 2019 recorded over 588 road accidents, in which 483 had lost their lives and 106 had sustained serious injuries. Interestingly, of the 483 fatalities, 393 constituted males and 90 were females.
The report highlighted that overtaking vehicles and speeding on roads were the two of the causes for highest road fatalities in the financial capital in 2019. According to the NCRB report, 236 people died due to rash driving/ overtaking in 2019 and 94 sustained injuries. Subsequently, overspeeding constituted 231 deaths and 22 injuries.
In a further bifurcation of vehicles that caused these fatal accidents, most were caused by two-wheelers followed by four-wheelers with 189 and 115 fatalities each. The other vehicles that led to road accidents fatalities were trucks/lorries, three-wheeler/auto rickshaws and buses with 87, 42 and 29 deaths, respectively.
