PUNE The number of fatalities on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway has seen an overall reduction by 52% since 2016, when the ‘Zero-Fatality Corridor” project, a joint initiative of the MSRDC, Maharashtra Highway Police, Mahindra & Mahindra, and SaveLIFE Foundation was launched to reduce road fatalities.
The expressway had witnessed a 43% reduction in road- crash fatalities, from 151 fatalities in 2016 to 86 fatalities until December 31, 2019.
In 2020, the expressway reported 66 fatalities in 63 accidents, according to data collated by SaveLIFE Foundation.
Though the figure demonstrates a 56% reduction in fatalities from the baseline of 2016, the project has taken the Covid-19-related impact into account and has marked a 52% reduction instead, taking the statistical averages from the first and last quarter of 2020, when there was relatively normal traffic movement on the expressway. In the first and last quarter of 2020, the expressway witnessed a total of 36 fatalities. Statistically extrapolating this to the entire year gives a figure of 72, which has been used to report the relatively conservative impact.
Commenting on project, Dr Chandrakant Pulkundwar, joint managing director, MSRDC said, “Every fatality on the expressway is a matter of grave concern for us. Though Covid made things tougher with excessive burdens on emergency services, we will not rest till we get to zero preventable deaths on this crucial link between Mumbai and Pune.”
{{/usCountry}}Commenting on project, Dr Chandrakant Pulkundwar, joint managing director, MSRDC said, “Every fatality on the expressway is a matter of grave concern for us. Though Covid made things tougher with excessive burdens on emergency services, we will not rest till we get to zero preventable deaths on this crucial link between Mumbai and Pune.”
{{/usCountry}}MSRDC has played a very crucial role in implementing suggestions. So far, 3,000 engineering-related suggestions have been implemented by MSRDC.
Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, additional director general of Police, Traffic, noted, “The Zero-Fatality Corridor project has resulted in a 52% reduction in road accident deaths on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway between 2016 and 2020. However, the challenge as seen in recent crashes on the stretch is the behaviour of truck drivers to drive down slopes on neutral gear, leading to heating of brakes and loss of control. Highway police have been challenging such trucks and will continue to do so to prevent unnecessary accidents due to such practices. Over-speeding on the expressway, especially by buses, is another area that we will be focusing on.”
Police have ramped up enforcement drives on the expressway to ensure specific human-risk factors are mitigated.
Commenting on the way forward, Piyush Tewari, founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation stated, “We remain grateful to Mahindra & Mahindra, MSRDC and Maharashtra police for their unrelenting support to the Zero-Fatality Corridor project. The model is now being replicated on multiple expressways and highways across the country and will contribute to saving lives nationally.”