Six-month road safety drive on Pune-Mumbai highways begins; overspeeding, lane cutting, wrong parking to invite action

The state motor vehicle department has initiated the drive, which will be executed by joint teams of officials from regional transport offices of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Panvel, traffic police, state highway patrol, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, Public Works Department and NGOs. The drive comes after a meeting recently chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in which all agencies were directed to take coordinated action towards increasing the safety on the two highways connecting Pune and Mumbai.

As many as 12 teams comprising 30 officials each have been formed and will be deployed round the clock on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway and the Old Highway. These teams will undertake surveys of accident-prone black spots along these highways. Additional corrective measures if required will be taken and sign boards will also be put along these spots, said officials from the state transport commissionerate.

The joint teams will take action on unauthorised parking of vehicles and remove any obstacles to the traffic flow. Action will be taken against the vehicle overspeeding and also those flouting lane discipline norms and involved in wrong lane cutting endangering the safety of other commuters, a statement from the State Transport commissionerate said. Action will be initiated against commuters riding bikes without helmets and driving cars without seatbelts.

“Scientific analysis of the accidents suggests that close to 80 per cent of them are caused by reckless and negligent driving and disregard to traffic safety rules. We are appealing to the drivers and commuters to follow all the norms and make the roads safer.” State Transport Commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar was quoted as saying in the press statement.