Pune: Accident fatalities on rural highway stretches a worry

PUNE: Fatalities because of accidents on highways passing through the rural parts of the district showed a marginal dip in 2019, but the number was high enough despite police stepping up measures to arrest the nearly four-year trend.

After registering the highest fatalities on the highways across the state in 2016, 2017 and 2018 (see graphic), the Pune rural police recorded 855 such deaths last year — the second highest in Maharashtra.
The police said a large number of state and national highways, along an expressway, passed through their jurisdiction and most of the accidents on these roads occurred during early morning hours.
Superintendent of police (Pune rural) Sandip Patil said “The district has a vast network of national and state highways and it is not possible to monitor all. We have, however, prepared some focused plans to reduce accidents and fatalities on the highways.”
He told TOI, “We started a traffic branch at each police station last year. Each branch has a staff of 15 personnel and an officer. They have a patrolling vehicle to man the highways passing through their respective jurisdictions.”
At the same time, the Pune rural police claimed to have taken action against motorists violating the road rules. “The main focus was on motorists taking the wrong side of the roads. We also repaired several punctures illegally created along various highways,” Patil said.
The officer added that the Pune rural police were working in coordination with Highway Safety Patrol (HSP) officers to ensure safety on the state and national highways.
An HSP officer said with the introduction of the interceptor vehicles, the police have managed to keep a check on speeding and rash driving. “We have taken action against over 1200 people for speeding and rash driving in two months. There are a few infrastructure issues related to the highways and the police have discussed the issues with the authorities concerned,” he said.
“The Pune rural police and HSP authorities have in the past one year stepped up the heat on people resorting driving in a drunken condition,” he added.
City-based traffic activist Ranjit Gadgil said the police must focus on ways to stop speeding on the highways. “The intensity of the accidents on the highways is high and speed is the major reason. The accident casualties have come down by 17%. It can be further reduced if there’s a check on speeding,” he said.
Frequent accidents on the Pune-Mumbai expressway had prompted the state traffic police last year to reduce the maximum speed limit of vehicles from 120 kmph to 100 kmph. The Centre had through a notification in April 2018 enhanced the speed limit from 80 kmph to 120 kmph. The enhanced speed limit was implemented in the middle of 2019.
The notification had stated that a review of road accidents in Maharashtra revealed that 30% of the fatal accidents occurred because of “over speeding”. It added that no cognisance of the violation of the speed limits should be taken under Section 183 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, if the speed detected was within 5% of the maximum notified speed.
Gadgil said the government agencies must fix the black spots on the highways, where accidents are a routine. “I think the enforcement of the traffic rules in the rural parts of the district was better in 2019 than the previous years and such an initiative should continue,” he said.