Expressways and Highways: Mumbai?s Dangerous and deadly connections

Overloaded trucks, moving at slow speed, clog the Expressway without the drivers even bothering to have reflectors or tail lights. They lead to massive traffic jams which take hours to clear. Certainly, the Expressway was not meant to be so. There is an urgent need to educate the drivers and enforce rules. Speed limit is now being fixed at 80kmph (it was designed for 120kmph though) but even the educated and emancipated users of the roads refuse to follow it. Fines are being imposed and speed guns are being brought in action to reduce over speeding.

Says Datar: ?You must have reflectors ? they will protect hitting from behind and will be very helpful on the blind turns. They are like plastic covers. By law, every vehicle must have reflectors ? rear lights ? which must shine. Separate lights are needed to see steel bars protruding beyond the trucks. Also, Safety Audits are essential until good roads are made.?

Subramaniam adds: ?You can provide reflectors but first educate the people about following good behaviour. I may tell you not to drink and drive but if you still drink and drive, how can I help you? The authorities have to enforce speed limits strictly. That is very, very important. Good patrolling is a must. In Europe, the drivers of the vehicles have fixed hours of driving. They have systems which ensure that the drivers cannot drive beyond a stipulated limit of hours, and the entire process is monitored. There is a mechanism installed in the vehicle itself which gives the numbers of hours driven and the number of kilometres travelled. Beyond certain driving hours they must take a break and only then can they restart the journey. Here, people drive during the day, continue at night and the owners really slog the drivers out. So, fatigue too becomes a big killer.?

There are other reasons too, like mentioned earlier. Tyre bursts, overloading of vehicles, blind turns, risky hairpin bends, uneven surface, overtaking at night, unwanted use of high beam and absence of Cat?s Eye are some of them. To arrest tyre bursts, proper maintenance of roads and vehicles is a must while for blind turns and uneven surface, not only are proper signboards required which can easily be seen from far but drivers too are expected to drive carefully.

The drivers have to show extra care while overtaking at night and severe restraint in using high beam which blinds the drivers of vehicles in the opposite lane. The government will have to create major awareness on the ill-effects of such behaviour. High beams are supposed to be used only in emergencies and in very dark areas but most of the drivers drive on high beam throughout. For avoiding accidents on uneven surfaces, again, careful driving is the answer. It goes without saying that the authorities have to maintain the roads and create a system of their constant upkeep.

Given the slow approach to safety measures on these highways accounting for innumerable deaths, the Government of Maharashtra and State Highways Authorities have to take urgent decision in this regard. Some of the solutions, based on expert advice, include widening of the Mumbai-Goa Highway (one of the country?s busiest highways, it is six metres wide in most stretches and approval has been given for only two phases of widening), wide medians and dividers with shrubbery or flowers planted on them to reduce blinding from the vehicles coming from the opposite direction, crash tested barriers or wire rope barriers, good use of reflectors, fluorescent markers to mark the road edges and proper enforcement of rules along with stringent action against erring drivers.

Says Eshwaran, ?For improving road safety in India, it is important to provide properly tested and internationally approved systems from accredited manufacturers and not their imitations. When it comes to safety standards, the authorities should emphasise and ensure that the road safety products to be used on the highways are based on ?performance standards? rather than ?constituent based? standards. It is about time that we make a start and make our roads and highways safer?.

He adds, ?The efforts on improving the road safety can only be enhanced and speeded up if all the stakeholders work together and the government, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, IRC and other technical bodies quickly codify and approve the safety standards of new products and technologies for faster implementation on the Indian highways. This will then help the road developers and contractors to use latest road safety products and technologies in their projects?.

So, though the effort to ensure safety on these highways has begun, albeit on a smaller scale, it is of utmost importance that the efforts are sustained and a combination of tried and tested solutions along with the application of newer technologies is carried out.