In an ongoing crackdown on traffic violators on the Pune-Mumbai expressway (e-way), the state highway police (HSP) in the month of September alone fined over 16,000 people for speeding beyond permissible limits; over 5,000 people for cutting lanes; and around 1,500 people for not wearing seat belts.
As per the information shared by the HSP, regular action is being taken by highway police teams at different locations on the e-way through speed guns, cameras and policemen standing at toll nakas. In September, the drive was intensified in both the Pune and Mumbai divisions of the HSP under which falls the Pune-Mumbai e-way. A senior highway police official on condition of anonymity said, “It is seen that people go full-speed on the e-way and do not follow traffic rules most of the times. They do not care about their lives and take risks. The maximum cases we have registered are of speeding beyond permissible limits and lane-cutting. Our appeal to the public is that for their own safety, they should drive their cars within speed limits and follow all rules strictly.”
In September alone, 16,016 cases of speeding beyond permissible limits on the e-way were registered under the Mumbai division and 275 such cases under the Pune division. Whereas for lane-cutting, 4,234 cases were registered under the Mumbai division and 798 cases under the Pune division. A total 1,491 cases were registered under the Mumbai division for not wearing seat belts, and a total 55 cases under the Pune division.
Earlier on August 14, Shiv Sangram Party head Vinayak Mete, 52, died, when his SUV met with an accident on the Pune-Mumbai e-way during the early hours. Mete sustained grievous injuries while his bodyguard, Ram Dogale, was also seriously injured even as his driver suffered minor injuries. Similarly, Cyrus Mistry lost his life on September 4 when the SUV he and three other persons were travelling in rammed into a concrete barricade on a part of the national highway (NH) 48 where three of the six lanes of the highway narrow down into two lanes.
