Greater Noida, (Samajweekly) Despite installation of CCTV cameras and signboards displaying the prescribed speed limits for all motorists travelling along the Yamuna Expressway, there has been no reduction in the number of road accidents taking place along this highway stretch in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida district.
There was a multiple head-on vehicle collision along the Yamuna Expressway at around 2 a.m. on Saturday in which one person has died and nine people have been injured, the police said.
Police said that after reaching about 30 km ahead on the road while travelling from Noida to Agra under the Jewar police station area, due to dense fog, a bus coming from behind collided with a canter truck.
Following the collision between the canter truck with the bus, two other cars also collided with the bus in which nine people were left injured. However, one person identified as Satya Prakash, a native of Koyla village in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah district, has died in this mishap.
A police team reached the accident site where they took the injured victims to a nearby hospital and are undergoing treatment.
Due to dense fog on the road, these collided vehicles have been removed from the spot so that all other vehicles plying on the road do not collide with each other.
Earlier, a road accident had occurred on the Yamuna Expressway on December 27 due to dense fog in which nearly 12 vehicles collided with each other.
A major decision has been taken to prevent accidents caused by fog and mist on the Yamuna Expressway.
From December 15, the speed limit of vehicles plying on the Yamuna Expressway will be fixed and the speed of vehicles running at a speed of 100 km per hour has been reduced to 75 km per hour.
These instructions will be strictly applicable on the Yamuna Expressway from December 15 to February 15. A reflective tape, signs/reflections and fog lights will be installed at all toll plaza booths on this highway. Most of the reflective tapes installed on Yamuna Expressway have very low sign/reflection, due to which there is darkness on the expressway which can cause accidents. Therefore, reflective tapes will be installed immediately here along with fog lights installed at the entry/exit points of the expressway.
To prevent the increase in the number of accidents taking place on the expressway, IIT Delhi has conducted a survey here and pointed the shortcomings found on this expressway to the Yamuna Expressway Authority, following which the work on these shortcomings has begun.
As the shortcomings pointed out by IIT Delhi gradually started being rectified, the number of accidents have started declining year after year. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also taken several decisions to prevent road accidents on the Yamuna Expressway while chairing a meeting held with the Uttar Pradesh State Road Safety Council on December 2, 2023.
During this meeting, several instructions have been issued to usher in several changes and implement necessary measures to prevent road accidents on the Yamuna Expressway. According to these instructions, the number of patrolling vehicles, cranes and ambulances on the expressway will be doubled. Besides, 64 new cameras will also be installed for security reasons on this highway stretch.
Apart from this, other works, including signage boards, thermoplastic paint, reflective lights on both sides of the road, will also near completion.
According to strict instructions issued by the CM Yogi Adityanath, all the pending works, including road signage boards, thermoplastic pants, reflective lights on both sides of the road on Yamuna Expressway should be completed as soon as possible.
The number of patrolling vehicles on Yamuna Expressway is currently stands at six which have now been increased to 12.
The number of light commercial vehicle cranes on the expressway has been increased to 16 from eight.
The installation of CCTV cameras have also been increased on this highway so that the service road here can also be monitored closely. At present, 42 CCTV cameras are installed which will be increased to 106 now.
Abhinav Singh Chauhan, Traffic and Transportation expert, told IANS that the lifespan of cement road lasts longer and maintenance is less. That is why the work of making it is now underway in most of the places.
He told that the pavement of cemented road does not absorb heat and reflects it due to which the tyres of the vehicle heat up quickly. That is why the pavement of cemented road is called rigid pavement and the pavement of asphalt road is called flexible and bituminous pavement.
A normal car tyre can last up to 40,000 km on an asphalt road as compared to a concrete or cemented road where it can travel only 20,000 km.
He told that it is important that the people driving on the road remain alert. Hence there must be signboards installed at various places to check people’s eyes driving behind the wheel and accidents could be averted.
There must be an arrangemenmt of restrooms and road intersection points at cerain distance so that the people driving the vehicle remain alert and afresh to drive again.
Abhinav also said that tyre companies currently make different types of tyres. The more luxurious the vehicle, the more flexible its tyres will be and they get damaged quickly since they pay maximum attention to the comfort of the vehicle and the people sitting inside.
According to him, if the tyre of a car is worn out then one should not travel longer on the cemented expressway as it can be prove to be quite dangerous.
According to data shared on accidents taking place on Yamuna Expressway, the number of accidents in 2023 has increased considerably compared to 2022.
In 2022, there were 303 road accidents on the Yamuna Expressway, while till November 2023, 378 road accidents have occurred. However, this year the number of deaths in road accidents is less than last year.
So far this year 89 people have lost their lives.
There have been 2,174 road accidents on Yamuna Expressway in the last five years in which 648 people lost their lives in these road accidents, while 4,612 people were injured. There were 509 road accidents on the Yamuna Expressway in 2020, in which 122 people lost their lives and 1,015 were injured.
Whereas in 2021, road accidents decreased and their number increased to 424. The number of people who lost their lives was 136 and the number of injured was 958.
