In a bid to tackle the rising mishaps while enhancing service on the busy Mumbai-Pune expressway and the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, the state highway police has prohibited heavy vehicles from using the extreme right lanes on both carriageways. In case of violations, goods transport vehicles and buses — including those run by the state transport — will be heavily penalised for dangerous driving.
"Now, such vehicles will not be able to use the lane to the extreme right (next to the divider) on these three-lane highways. They will have to drive in the extreme left lane and overtake using the middle lane," explained a senior highway police official. The official said this would prevent mishaps and instil traffic discipline.
"There are times when heavy vehicles occupy the lane on the extreme right. This prevents smaller vehicles like cars from overtaking, which then attempt to overtake from the left and ram into other vehicles, including those that have broken down or are stationary," the official added.
‘VACATE RIGHT LANE’
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RULE TO BE IMPOSED ON MUM-AHM HIGHWAY AS WELL
- Rs 1,000 – Fine for dangerous driving
- 54,000 to 60,000 – Daily vehicular traffic on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
- 1,86,624 – Motorists fined for speeding in 2017
- Rs 4.31 cr – Total fine collected for speeding in 2017
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A notification in this regard has been issued recently wherein violators will be fined Rs 1,000 for dangerous driving. Heavy vehicles have also been prohibited from overtaking in the 8-km ghat section of the expressway.
ALSO READ: MSRDC scouts for new toll agency for Mumbai-Pune Expressway
While the 94-km Mumbai- Pune Expressway, which was opened for traffic in 1999, has redefined road travel from Mumbai to Pune and beyond, it suffers from falling service levels due to rising traffic loads and lack of capacity expansion. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway (NH-48) connects Mumbai to Gujarat, Rajasthan and further to Delhi.
The volume of heavy vehicles using the two arterial highways is huge. On the high-speed, access control Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which sees around 54,000 to 60,000 vehicles (the numbers rise on holidays and weekends), goods transport vehicles account for around a tenth.
Meanwhile, the highway police has also launched the "invisible policing" experiment on the expressway. Here, highway police staff travel in their official vehicles or civilian vehicles in six zones of around 30-km each to detect traffic violations
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