Spurt in accidents on Yamuna Expressway linked to traffic rise

Agra: The rise in the number of fatal accidents on Yamuna Expressway has a direct link to a sudden rise in the number of vehicles plying on the 165km stretch from Agra to Greater Noida after the highway was extended to Lucknow.
According to data available with toll plazas on the expressway, since 2012, the stretch would see an annual rise of 10% in the number of vehicles. However, since January 2018, when the Lucknow-Agra Expressway was thrown open for heavy vehicles as well, traffic on Yamuna Expressway has seen a rise of 20%.

“Since the commissioning of the Agra-Lucknow expressway, we saw nearly 20 % increase in the movement of heavy vehicles, particularly private buses, which operate between the national capital and various destinations in east UP and Bihar,” Major (retired) Manish Singh, in charge of the Mathura and Agra section tolls of Yamuna Expressway, told TOI.

On an average, the Yamuna Expressway has seen approximately 7.65 crore vehicles pass its three tolls — Jewar, Mathura and Agra —between 2012 and 2017. However, it added two crore vehicles in a little over one year, between January 2018 and March 2012.

On December 23, 2016, the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, which connects with the Yamuna Expressway, was opened for light vehicles. However, after the toll service started on January 19, 2018, heavy traffic movement also began. Passenger buses of the UP State Road Transport Corporation, Rajasthan Roadways, Jammu and Kashmir Roadways and Bharat-Nepal Maitri bus service also started using the stretch frequently to reach Delhi.

K C Jain, a Supreme Court lawyer and RTI activist who has filed several petitions in high court to increase road safety measures on the Yamuna and Agra-Lucknow Expressway, said, “The buses used by government and private operators don’t have enough safety measures for passengers, for examples seat belts. In fact, most of the private buses plying on the expressways are probably unauthorised,” he said. There are 23 patrolling and quick reaction vehicles of UP Dial 100 and Jaypee Infratech — the private concessionaire maintaining the highway — on Yamuna Expressway. All three tolls have trauma centres with five ambulances and six doctors round the clock.

An official of the private concessionaire, Jaypee, said, “Customer care number for emergency help is provided on the toll receipt to customers, who can make distress call for emergency services. Speed measuring cameras along with other surveillance systems are in place across the Yamuna Expressway for prompt action.”