₹70.50Cr fine levied on 9.06 lakh people in 2021 by Highway Safety Patrol – most on Expressway in last 4 years

In the last four years, the Highway Safety Patrol (HSP) fined maximum number of motorists on Mumbai-Pune Expressway in 2021 by penalising 9.06 lakh of them; due to the increase in accidents, the officials have started ‘Save Life’ programmes wherein motorists and officers are sensitised about the accident spots and trained about what to be done in case of accidents

In the last four years, the Highway Safety Patrol (HSP) fined the maximum number of motorists on Mumbai-Pune Expressway in 2021 by penalising 9.06 lakh of them.

₹70.50Cr fine levied on 9.06 lakh people in 2021 by Highway Safety Patrol – most on Expressway in the last four years. (For representational purposes only) (HT FILE PHOTO)

Due to the increase in accidents, the officials have started ‘Save Life’ programmes wherein motorists and officers are sensitised about the accident spots and trained about what to be done in case of accidents.

“Truck drivers, our staff and other heavy vehicle drivers are sensitised about the accident spots on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. They are being trained by the NGO in order to achieve a zero-fatality corridor at the Mumbai-Pune Expressway,” Sunita Salunke-Thakare, Superintendent of Police (HQ), Mumbai, said.

The department has also approached Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDC) for having more streetlights. Recently, HSP also started a chowky near the demolished Amrutanjan Bridge, which is one of the most accident prone areas. “We have continuous announcements by Amrutanjan chowky staff in the area to alert the motorists about the accident spot,” Salunke-Thakare, said.

There are five CCTVs on Mumbai-Pune Expressway that capture footage from various angles. Besides, the HSP team also has speedometers and six interceptor vehicles that keep patrolling on the road.

In 2018, a total of 1.22 lakh people were booked for violating various traffic norms and ₹2.57Cr was levied. In 2019, ₹3.11Cr fine was levied from 2.25 lakh people while ₹19.90Cr fine was levied in 2020 from 3.63 lakh people.

In the last four years, the maximum fine was levied in 2021 – ₹70.50Cr from 9.06 lakh people.

The maximum cases were done by the Wadgaon team of Mumbai Pune Expressway by levying ₹37.76Cr from 3.97 lakh people. In 2018, the total number of people killed on Mumbai-Pune Expressway were 114 people in 359 accidents, 92 were killed in 353 accidents in 2019, 66 were killed in 2020 in 161 accidents and 88 were killed in 2021 in 200 accidents. The maximum number of accidents that occurred in 2020 and 2021 were at the Borghat section of Mumbai-Pune Expressway.