These killer roads
India
In just a few years, the 165 km long Yamuna Expressway, from Noida to
The fault is
neither in the engineering designs nor in the quality of construction. Speed is
proving the fatal flaw, say driving experts. “It’s simple. Motorists fail to
take elementary driving precautions and control their urge to speed. They
forget they are driving vehicles meant for roads, and not jet planes,” says car
racer Harvijay Bahia. Another experienced driver Sudhier Gupta adds “most
accidents have involved drivers under
influence of liquor.”
The Agra
Lucknow Expressway, a dream project of former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav,
has left the Yamuna Expressway of Mayawati, BSP supremo, behind in the race for
fatal road accidents.
Built with
an aim to shorten the travel time, the 302-km-long Agra-Lucknow Expressway is
actually cutting short people's lives. In just 90 days, 36 people lost their
lives, 222 others were injured in over 400 accidents on the Expressway, an RTI
query revealed.
Advocate KC Jain had filed a Right to Information plea seeking details of accidents on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Jain said: "The situation is truly alarming. We have not learnt lessons from the Yamuna Expressway accidents, which is taking a heavy human toll with almost an accident everyday. The Agra-Lucknow Expressway is claiming lives because precautionary measures have not been taken."
Advocate KC Jain had filed a Right to Information plea seeking details of accidents on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. Jain said: "The situation is truly alarming. We have not learnt lessons from the Yamuna Expressway accidents, which is taking a heavy human toll with almost an accident everyday. The Agra-Lucknow Expressway is claiming lives because precautionary measures have not been taken."
According to
the data made available by the UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority
(UPEIDA), between August 2017 and March 2018 there were 858 accidents causing
100 deaths. Between April 2018 and December 2018, 1,113 accidents claimed 91
lives.
In 20
months, 2,368 accidents claimed 227 lives and maimed many.
Road safety experts are intrigued at lack of interest on the part of authorities to take adequate measures to prevent accidents.
"Initially, this Expressway was not popular. But now the traffic is shifting from the national highway to the Expressway, due to traffic jams and road blocks at dozens of points. People boast having covered the distance in less than three hours," said Jain.
With the rising accidents, ambulance costs and hospitalisation charges incurred by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) continue to soar, he said and added, but they were not doing what they should be as top priority.
In every quarter of the year, some 2.5 lakh vehicles use the Expressway, generating around Rs 18 crore in toll each month, but the YEIDA has not been able to spend money on installing automatic number plate reader cameras and other equipments at every 20 km stretch to monitor speed violations.
The YEIDA has proposed to install such equipments at ten points on the 302-km-long Expressway. The 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway has such monitoring cameras at ten places.
Road safety experts are intrigued at lack of interest on the part of authorities to take adequate measures to prevent accidents.
"Initially, this Expressway was not popular. But now the traffic is shifting from the national highway to the Expressway, due to traffic jams and road blocks at dozens of points. People boast having covered the distance in less than three hours," said Jain.
With the rising accidents, ambulance costs and hospitalisation charges incurred by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) continue to soar, he said and added, but they were not doing what they should be as top priority.
In every quarter of the year, some 2.5 lakh vehicles use the Expressway, generating around Rs 18 crore in toll each month, but the YEIDA has not been able to spend money on installing automatic number plate reader cameras and other equipments at every 20 km stretch to monitor speed violations.
The YEIDA has proposed to install such equipments at ten points on the 302-km-long Expressway. The 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway has such monitoring cameras at ten places.
A total of 4,956 accidents, 718 deaths and 7,671 serious
injuries were recorded on the Yamuna Expressway between August 2012 to March
31, 2018, revealed another RTI reply.
The alarming number of fatal road accidents on the Yamuna
Expressway has caused widespread concern, calling for effective intervention of
the Central and State government agencies.
The available data suggests that 718 deaths due to fatal
accidents were recorded on the Expressway, the number of seriously injured was
equally alarming at over 7,671.
Speaking to IANS, Jain said: “We have written to
government agencies to take effective steps to curb the menace of speed driving
but our pleas have fallen on deaf years.
“An independent agency should monitor movement on the
Expressway and should follow up information received from the Jaypee Infotech
about speed violations. We have written to the UP Chief Minister about this.”
Since January, more than 130 accidents have taken place at
the Expressway that claimed over 50 lives.
Drivers not only violate speed limits but drive without
wearing helmets and seat belts, Jain said.
Between August 2012 to March 2018, 2.33 crore vehicles
violated speed limits, data provided by automatic surveillance gadgets and
number plate readers installed at various points showed, he claimed.
“But violaters are not booked and are allowed to go scot
free.”
Data available from the Yamuna Expressway Industrial
Development Authority (YEIDA) revealed that 23.42 per cent accidents were
caused due to over speeding while 12 per cent accidents due to tyre bursting.
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