27.07.16
Started the day with the sad and heartbreaking news of yet another accident on the Mumbai Pune Expressway. This time it was 6 young souls in their teens from Pune who had gone to celebrate their friendship to Lonavala and were returning back to Pune in the early hours of the day.
They celebrations could have a lot of merry making with less sleep which caused the drowsiness of the driver. It is learnt that the driver was underage and had a learners license. I really shudder to think how parents are killing their kids by giving them vehicles,( two wheel or four wheel) before they are mentally, physically, emotionally and legally fit to drive. `
Historically, The Mumbai Pune Expressway became fully operational as a single stretch in 2002 and since the past 15 years has served as a great drive between the two cities drastically reducing the time taken to travel. But with speed comes responsibility and the reckless driving of people on the road has turned the road into a highway to hell with the road taking hundreds if not thousands of lives since its opening.
The many reasons given for the fatalities are loss of control, fatigue, less sleep, etc. which are all human related factors and cannot be blamed to the technical parameters on which the road has been built. In fact stretches of the road are a marvel of Indian engineering.
The deaths have occurred mostly due to the human touch and related factors like sleep deprivation where in drivers have been driving for more than 12 hours at a stretch be it private carriers , trucks, containers and like wise and loose control when on the road. Other reasons being old and deformed vehicles not fit for the road being used and transport companies pushing their vehicles and drivers to the limits to cut travel time resulting in deaths on accidents.
Our laws also are not strong enough to deter the law breaker from committing the offences regularly and also the lawmakers are not doing enough to see to it that people using the roads follow the rules. Being a frequent user till recently ( I stopped using the expressway about a year back and now prefer to travel by train to Pune) , I had noticed that the police presence is sufficient on the highway, it is in fact higher than those at most highways in the state but the utility of these forces is a question that remain to be answered by the authorities. What is being done by the police to ensure that the lawbreakers do not proceed ahead on the highway when caught by them ? .
One thing I have noticed that very few cool cabs ( the govt. approved taxi services between Dadar and Pune ) have been involved in accidents on the expressway over the years, having taken these blue silver cabs from Dadar to Pune many a times, I have noticed that most of these taxi drivers have at least 20 + years experience of driving, most of them are old but young at heart and have been in this trade since the 80's and have switched from the Old highway to the New expressway quite easily. They have very strong nerves and drive safely always to reach you to the destination on time. Most of the younger drivers who have joined the fleet recently have also learnt from old chaps who are their gurus and hence also do drive safely.
Same cannot be said of the MSRTC Asiad , Shivneri bus drivers as well as the state owned ST buses, the Privately owned buses & Volvo. Here most drivers are very rash in their driving and need control from the authorities. Every body will remember a few days back a lady from Pune whilst travelling back tweeted to the CM about the rash driving on a MSRTC Shivneri which had cut lanes and overtaken her cab at high speeds. In this age of speedy communication and social media awareness the driver was suspended pending inquiry on reaching Pune. This power has to be used more often to make people realize that laws cannot be broken at their whims and fancies and the fear is instilled in the minds of the drivers. More importantly before embarking on a journey , the drivers should remember the near and dear ones at home who are waiting for them to come back.
Most are aware that there are two big toll nakas on the highway which serve as check points for the police to keep a check on the validity of the commercial vehicles being driven on the road as well as the private cars being driven there. But what we see the police doing on these toll nakas leaves a lot to be desired.
Unless few people are arrested and put behind bars nothing will change and the same offences and resultant deaths will continue. There used to be a time in Mumbai and other big cities where people used to party drink and drive,e.g. we are all aware of the superstar's case which is in court since ages.
Any ways point is that in the present times, due to the fear of the lawmakers, the instances of drunken driving has drastically reduced in the city and suburbs due to the fear of the police and arrests but this also is sadly not eliminated. Remember Ms. Jhanvi' s case on the Eastern Freeway which took two lives due to drunken driving and that too on the wrong side. She is out on bail.
The Maharashtra government which is showing so much of vigor and vitality in all departments under a dynamic CM, in all dept. of administration, should instruct the home ministry under whom the police is, to take adequate measures on the Mumbai Pune expressway so that fear of the law and lawmaker is re instilled in the minds of the people like it is in the cities.
The previous govt did nothing to improve conditions on the expressway other than naming it after a ex chief minister. But now we can expect that CM Fadnavis and team take the moral responsibility to improve conditions related to human errors and lawbreakers to bring things under control on the expressway. I would advice the CM to travel on this road in disguise without the hoopla specially on two or three separate days ( preferably nights) and he would get a feel of the ground reality.
We all know that the time had come too early for these young boys to expire and leave their families and friends in distress but surely the police or any other authority present on the expressway on Monday night could have stopped the car and checked and may be also challaned the boys for over speeding which would have saved their young lives.
They were surely too young to go. My heart goes out to the families of these boys who have to suffer for these young lives taken away so soon as departed souls leave their near and dear ones in great suffering.
Please be responsible whilst driving on this road and take enough precautions and follow rules.
Started the day with the sad and heartbreaking news of yet another accident on the Mumbai Pune Expressway. This time it was 6 young souls in their teens from Pune who had gone to celebrate their friendship to Lonavala and were returning back to Pune in the early hours of the day.
They celebrations could have a lot of merry making with less sleep which caused the drowsiness of the driver. It is learnt that the driver was underage and had a learners license. I really shudder to think how parents are killing their kids by giving them vehicles,( two wheel or four wheel) before they are mentally, physically, emotionally and legally fit to drive. `
Historically, The Mumbai Pune Expressway became fully operational as a single stretch in 2002 and since the past 15 years has served as a great drive between the two cities drastically reducing the time taken to travel. But with speed comes responsibility and the reckless driving of people on the road has turned the road into a highway to hell with the road taking hundreds if not thousands of lives since its opening.
The many reasons given for the fatalities are loss of control, fatigue, less sleep, etc. which are all human related factors and cannot be blamed to the technical parameters on which the road has been built. In fact stretches of the road are a marvel of Indian engineering.
The deaths have occurred mostly due to the human touch and related factors like sleep deprivation where in drivers have been driving for more than 12 hours at a stretch be it private carriers , trucks, containers and like wise and loose control when on the road. Other reasons being old and deformed vehicles not fit for the road being used and transport companies pushing their vehicles and drivers to the limits to cut travel time resulting in deaths on accidents.
Our laws also are not strong enough to deter the law breaker from committing the offences regularly and also the lawmakers are not doing enough to see to it that people using the roads follow the rules. Being a frequent user till recently ( I stopped using the expressway about a year back and now prefer to travel by train to Pune) , I had noticed that the police presence is sufficient on the highway, it is in fact higher than those at most highways in the state but the utility of these forces is a question that remain to be answered by the authorities. What is being done by the police to ensure that the lawbreakers do not proceed ahead on the highway when caught by them ? .
One thing I have noticed that very few cool cabs ( the govt. approved taxi services between Dadar and Pune ) have been involved in accidents on the expressway over the years, having taken these blue silver cabs from Dadar to Pune many a times, I have noticed that most of these taxi drivers have at least 20 + years experience of driving, most of them are old but young at heart and have been in this trade since the 80's and have switched from the Old highway to the New expressway quite easily. They have very strong nerves and drive safely always to reach you to the destination on time. Most of the younger drivers who have joined the fleet recently have also learnt from old chaps who are their gurus and hence also do drive safely.
Same cannot be said of the MSRTC Asiad , Shivneri bus drivers as well as the state owned ST buses, the Privately owned buses & Volvo. Here most drivers are very rash in their driving and need control from the authorities. Every body will remember a few days back a lady from Pune whilst travelling back tweeted to the CM about the rash driving on a MSRTC Shivneri which had cut lanes and overtaken her cab at high speeds. In this age of speedy communication and social media awareness the driver was suspended pending inquiry on reaching Pune. This power has to be used more often to make people realize that laws cannot be broken at their whims and fancies and the fear is instilled in the minds of the drivers. More importantly before embarking on a journey , the drivers should remember the near and dear ones at home who are waiting for them to come back.
Most are aware that there are two big toll nakas on the highway which serve as check points for the police to keep a check on the validity of the commercial vehicles being driven on the road as well as the private cars being driven there. But what we see the police doing on these toll nakas leaves a lot to be desired.
Unless few people are arrested and put behind bars nothing will change and the same offences and resultant deaths will continue. There used to be a time in Mumbai and other big cities where people used to party drink and drive,e.g. we are all aware of the superstar's case which is in court since ages.
Any ways point is that in the present times, due to the fear of the lawmakers, the instances of drunken driving has drastically reduced in the city and suburbs due to the fear of the police and arrests but this also is sadly not eliminated. Remember Ms. Jhanvi' s case on the Eastern Freeway which took two lives due to drunken driving and that too on the wrong side. She is out on bail.
The Maharashtra government which is showing so much of vigor and vitality in all departments under a dynamic CM, in all dept. of administration, should instruct the home ministry under whom the police is, to take adequate measures on the Mumbai Pune expressway so that fear of the law and lawmaker is re instilled in the minds of the people like it is in the cities.
The previous govt did nothing to improve conditions on the expressway other than naming it after a ex chief minister. But now we can expect that CM Fadnavis and team take the moral responsibility to improve conditions related to human errors and lawbreakers to bring things under control on the expressway. I would advice the CM to travel on this road in disguise without the hoopla specially on two or three separate days ( preferably nights) and he would get a feel of the ground reality.
We all know that the time had come too early for these young boys to expire and leave their families and friends in distress but surely the police or any other authority present on the expressway on Monday night could have stopped the car and checked and may be also challaned the boys for over speeding which would have saved their young lives.
They were surely too young to go. My heart goes out to the families of these boys who have to suffer for these young lives taken away so soon as departed souls leave their near and dear ones in great suffering.
Please be responsible whilst driving on this road and take enough precautions and follow rules.
