Five killed as driver dozes off at wheel

On the small hours of Friday, an accident took away the lives of five people after the driver of the speeding Ford Eco Sport dozed off and rammed into a divider on the Yamuna Expressway.

The incident took place at around 4 am on Yamuna Expressway near milestone 115 of Mahawan police jurisdiction of Mathura district. Four occupants of the SUV died on the spot while the driver succumbed to injuries in the district hospital, said police officials.

The deceased have been identified as Prem Prakash, Raju, Jadhav, Shahrukh and driver Chandraveer. All the victims were hailing from Punjab were heading from Ludhiana to Agra.

"Following the information received via phone call, a police team was rushed to the spot. The accident took place on Friday at around 4 am. The intensity of the collision was such that the airbags of the car failed to save their lives. The car was torn apart into pieces and it seems that the car was driven at a very high speed," said G.P Singh, Station House Officer, Mahawan police station.

He also stated that with no marks found of any other vehicles from the spot, it's clear that the driver dozed off which made him lose his control over the vehicle. "The SUV car with registration number PB 10 GE 2339 turned several times after hitting the divider. The family members of the victims have been informed and the bodies have been sent for the post mortem," added Singh.

The Yamuna Expressway has been an accident prone area since its built. The E-way witnessed recurring road accidents and has gulped more than five hundred lives till now.

According to an RTI, during the four-and-half years since its opening, the expressway has seen the deaths of 548 people in 4,076 accidents. In past two years, around 270 persons have lost their lives in over 2000 road accidents on the Yamuna Expressway.

Last month, a meeting was conducted between the senior officials of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), District Transport Officials, Police Department and the concessionaire of the E-way (Jaypee Infratech Group) in which slew of measures were proposed to avoid the road accidents on the same.

The board has also directed the Jaypee group to provide a free cup of coffee or tea to the driver between 1 am to 5 am as maximum accidents along the e-way were taking place during this interval of time due to drivers getting dozed off.