Killer Expressway: Only 0.07% speeding vehicles challaned

New Delhi: After another horrific accident on the Yamuna Expressway that killed 29 people, a report has revealed that while more than 2.30 crore vehicles have violated the speed limit on the 165.5 km-long carriageway between 2012 and 2017, only 17,883 of them have been challaned. This means that in five years, only 0.07 per cent of overspeeding vehicles on the "killer expressway" have been challaned.

Till March 2018, there have been around 4,956 accidents on the expressway, leading to 718 fatalities and 7,671 serious injuries. Data accessed by the Millennium Post has now revealed that of those, 23.42 per cent or 1,161 mishaps were caused due to overspeeding. Moreover, 595 or 12 per cent of these accidents were a result of burst tyres on the carriageway.

Official figures show that more than 7.65 crore vehicles used the Yamuna Expressway till 2017 since it's inception. Given the fact that more than 2.30 crore of these vehicles were going beyond the speed limit, it shows that 30.11 per cent or nearly one-third of all the vehicles travelling on the high-speed carriageway do not stick to the prescribed speed limit.

In fact, calculation based on this data shows that more than 10,000 vehicles violated speed limits on the high-speed stretch every day. Added to that is the fact, that the "killer expressway" saw more than 2 accidents per day on an average in these five years.

A road safety activist has claimed that inaction by concerned authorities in the form of low prosecutions for overspeeding not only resulted in the deaths of so many but also cost the government exchequer around Rs 700 crore.

While this data pertains to just overspeeding vehicles, the number of challans issued for rash driving are much lower. In fact, official data shows that in five years, only 164 vehicles have been challaned for rash driving, whereas more than 7.65 crore vehicles have used the expressway during the same period.

Speaking to the Millennium Post, commuters who use the high-speed carriageway on a regular basis have said that overspeeding vehicles are the most common sight. One biker said that there are hardly any vehicles that do not go beyond the speed limit. "However, given the technology that the expressway has, it is impossible to miss it if a vehicle breaks the speed limit," he said.

In fact, in a counter-affidavit, the UP government had said that there are systems in place by which, a speeding vehicle is detected and its violation is displayed on the next toll plaza automatically.

Despite this, the number of challans issued for overspeeding is

staggeringly disproportionate to the number of vehicles actually breaking the rule.

In a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, KC Jain, a lawyer and road safety activist has said that lacklustre enforcement of traffic laws on the stretch connecting Greater Noida to Agra should be held responsible for the large number of fatal accidents it sees.

In fact, Jain has also asked that concerned authorities take

decisive measures to make data on accidents and their causes available in the public domain in the general interest of travellers.

While the UP government has time and again referred to a data analysis system known as the Road Accident Data Analysis Management System (RADAMS), it has not yet been put in place. According to the Road Safety Fund Rules of 2014, there are provisions for the RADAMS, but the state government insists that it is still under process.