Project steering committee to help curb accidents on Pune-Mumbai Expressway

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: A project steering committee has been formed to

curb accidents

on Pune-Mumbai Expressway following a memorandum of understanding signed between the home department and the Save Life Foundation, New Delhi, on July 27.


The 12-member committee would be chaired by the additional chief secretary of the home department, additional director-general of police (traffic) and the managing director of

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation

. The Save Life Foundation would recommend accident prevention measures after analysing over 5,000 accidents in the past 12 years. The home department would review the situation after every three months.

The foundation is an independent, non-profit nongovernment organization committed to improving road safety and emergency care across the country. Piyush Tewari, chief executive officer of the Save Life Foundation, said, “We will combine interventions across road engineering, traffic enforcement, user engagement and post-crash trauma care to significantly reduce road crash deaths by 2021. The initiative is supported by various departments of the state government and Mahindra and Mahindra CSR.”

A traffic official said, “Over 70 % accidents occur because of human errors. If people follow the speed limits and stick to the lane norms, the number of accidents on the expressway would reduce considerably,” a senior traffic police officer said.

Accidents occur because of lack of control on vehicles at a high speed, poor maintenance of tyres and halting on the expressway. An HSP officer said a study found that most accidents occur early in the morning, between 3am and 6am, when the drivers are sleepy. Cars often travel at 120km per hour or above, the official said.