Speeding and tyres causing Yaumna e-way crashes: Audit

GREATER NOIDA: The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), which has been investigating the reasons behind a high accident rate on the Yamuna expressway, has submitted its final report and identified speeding and faulty tyre pressure as the main culprits.
The CRRI - an apex organization that conducts research and development work on roads and transportation - has also suggested strict enforcement of speed limit and heavy fines for violations.The expressway's speed limit is 100 kmph for light vehicles and 60 kmph for heavy ones. But vehicles have been found to be speeding way over that.
The report praised the road as an engineering marvel and recommended immediate enforcement of safety measures. CRRI submitted the report to Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) this week, two months after it was assigned the task. "CRRI has offered advice on several aspects to improve traffic engineering on the expressway to minimize accidents," said P C Gupta, CEO of YEIDA.
Gupta said a meeting was held on Tuesday with officials of Jaypee Infratech, which built the expressway, to discuss the report. "We've apprised the expressway authorities about CRRI's recommendations and directed them to implement those," Gupta said. "We'll also address the suggestions in a phased manner. Safety suggestions such as removal of rumble strips, installation of a median crash barrier, etc, have been conveyed too," Gupta added.
The study was commissioned by YEIDA a day after over 48 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the expressway on December 24 last year.
The pile-up had claimed two lives and left 30 others injured. In its aftermath, Gupta had also directed senior superintendents of police (SSP) of districts along the expressway - Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Agra and Mathura - to check the speed of vehicles.
Over 50 lives were lost to accidents on the highway in 2014 alone.
Gautam Budh Nagar Police is now gearing up to issue e-challans to speeding vehicles. "Currently, we're issuing spot challans. Last year, we fined 2,473 vehicles for speeding. Since January, nearly 550 vehicles have been challaned," said Preetinder Singh, SSP. "But our plan is to integrate expressway cameras with our systems to issue e-challans," Singh explained.