Covid-19 lockdown: Accidents on Navi Mumbai highways down by 58%
The accidents along the major highways, connecting Navi Mumbai to other cities have shown over 58 per cent decrease during the lockdown.
Though the number of accidents is less, the fatalities are almost the same as those of the previous year despite lockdown as most accidents reported were major.
Highways like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Thane-Belapur Road, Sion-Panvel Highway and Palm Beach Road pass through Navi Mumbai.
In 2019, a total of 403 accidents were recorded on all the four highways. The corresponding number this year is 169, a drop by more than half.
An officer said, “Though the number of accidents have reduced, most of the accidents this year were fatal accidents. Last year, 79 fatal accidents were reported, killing 89 people while this year 76 fatal accidents were reported, killing 83.”
The major affected highways are the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the Sion-Panvel Highway.
Arun Patil, Assistant Commissioner of Police, traffic, said, “The highways face issue of bad roads and poor lighting. These are the main reasons behind fatal accidents. While Palm Beach Road is properly lit, Thane-Belapur Road and Sion-Panvel Road face lighting issues. We have written several times to the concerned department about the same. Besides, not following proper traffic rules is another reason for fatal accidents.”
The data of the accidents of Mumbai-Pune Expressway from Highway Safety Patrol is of the whole 94.5 km stretch, of which only 11 km stretch from Kalamboli to Bhatanbhogda falls under the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai police commissionerate. The traffic department claimed that efforts are on to intercept the speeding vehicles.
“Currently, we have two interceptor vehicles on the move, especially on major highways to detect the speed of the vehicles approaching. These vehicles play a major role in identifying speeding vehicles. We have also sent a proposal to Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation regarding installation of Number Plate Recognition (NPR) cameras on major highways. While the interceptor vans would be on the move, the static cameras will help in identifying speeding vehicles at many locations,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic), Sunil Lokhande, said.