Foggy days ahead, e-way safety finally gets a thought

GURUGRAM: The road safety committee set up by district authorities has identified various maintenance issues on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway that need immediate attention. With visibility expected to fall drastically in the coming days as winter sets in and fog increases, more lights will be fitted and cops deployed for the over 4 lakh vehicles crossing the 24km-long expressway everyday. Already, 246 accidents have been reported on the expressway this year, resulting in 101 deaths and 145 injuries.
For starters, there isn’t a single streetlight on the service lane between Rajiv Chowk and Signature Tower, the committee observed. Also, there are overgrown bushes that protrude on the service road and obstructs view. At a committee meeting last week, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was assigned the task of trimming the bushes and installing streetlights along this stretch.

Traffic signals and streetlights will also be installed under MDI flyover, Rajiv Chowk, Iffco Chowk and Signature Tower, to ease traffic congestion. According to officials, these streetlights can cut down accidents as these are some of the busiest of the highway even at night. Lights will be chosen on the basis of their capacity to illuminate when pitch dark and amount of time the human eye takes to acclimatise with it. The traffic signals will be timed.

The district traffic police has already doubled the presence of cops on the expressway at night. Previously, there were only three police posts on the highway during the night — at Panchgaon, Rajiv Chowk and Sirhaul toll plaza. Since November, their number has gone up to seven, i.e. the same as during day hours — at Sirhaul, Shankar Chowk, IFFCO Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, IMT Manesar and Panchgaon. Also, number of traffic cops on these stretches at night has been doubled to 36 from 18.

“Our aim is to cut down road fatalities under Haryana’s Vision Zero campaign. Besides, better lighting will help improve vigilance and curb crime on the highway. We’ve also recently enhanced our nighttime deployment to facilitate smooth traffic flow at selected congestion-prone points,” said Himanshu Garg, DCP (traffic and South).

Another major cause behind a large number of accidents — both on the expressway and other parts of the city — is speeding. Gurugram police challaned 1,036 drivers in September, and 2,378 in October this year, for speeding.

At present there are five interceptors in Gurugram to monitor high-speed vehicles, but three more are needed. This was raised at a state-level review meeting on November 27, which was chaired by Rakesh Gupta, additional principal secretary to the chief minister.