Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Published on November 6, 2019
To reduce road fatalities, Maharashtra Highway Police (MHP) have revised speed limits for vehicles moving on Expressways to Municipal limits roads. The revision was necessary as a study of road mishaps done at national level concluded that 30 per cent of fatalities were caused due to overspeeding.
Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Vinay Kargaonkar issued a circular about the new speed limits and stated that it would came into force from November 18, 2019, onwards.
According to the order, speed limit of vehicles on Expressways will be 100 kmph while on hilly roads and ghats it will be 50 kmph. On the National Highways, the speed limit is set at 90 kmph and on Urban Roads, 60 kmph. Earlier, on Expressway the upper speed limit was 120 kmph while on National Highways it was 100 kmph.
Considering the terrain of roads, curves, plains and hilly areas, it was deemed necessary to restrict the speed of motor vehicles. In the light of these findings, SHP has set the permissible maximum speed limit for vehicles on roads, taking into account individual vehicle's capacity.
The speed limit for vehicles (carrying not more than eight passengers) within the city will be 60 kmph on plain terrain and 40 kmph on Hilly roads, while those of passenger vehicles (carrying more than eight people) would be 50 kmph and 30 kmph respectively. For two-wheelers, the speed limit will be 50 kmph on plain terrain and 40 kmph on hilly roads, while for goods vehicles it will be 40 kmph and 30 kmph respectively. The speed limits for quadricyles and three-wheelers will be 40 kmph on plain terrain and 30 kmph on hilly roads.
On the Expressway, the vehicles carrying up to eight passengers will have a speed limit of 100 kmph on plain terrain and 50 kmph on Ghats and hilly areas, while on six-laned Expressways, the speed limit is 80 kmph and 40 kmph, respectively. Meanwhile, buses and goods carriers on the Expressway will be allowed to travel at 80 kmph on plain roads and 40 kmph in hilly areas, while on six-laned Expressways, the limits are up to 60 kmph and 40 kmph respectively. Two-wheelers are not allowed on Expressways with access control, while on six-laned Expressways bikers can travel up to 60 kmph on plain roads and 40 kmph on hilly roads.
For motor vehicles on four-laned national and state highways, the limit will be 90 kmph on plain terrain and 50 kmph in hilly areas, while passenger and goods vehicles will be allowed to travel at 80 kmph on plain roads and 40 kmph on hilly areas on four-laned highways.
The speed limit for two-wheelers is 70 kmph on plain roads and 40 kmph on hilly roads on national and state highways, while three-wheelers can go at 60 kmph and 40 kmph respectively.
Motor vehicles plying on national and state highways within city limits can travel at 70 kmph on plain roads and 40 kmph on hilly roads, while for passenger and goods vehicles, two-wheelers and quadricyles, the limits are 60 kmph and 40 kmph respectively.
Experts on the road safety welcomed the move and said that it would definitely bring the change. Indian roads have become synonymous with chaos, anarchy and accidents due to overspeeding and traffic rules violations,” he said. More than 150,000 people lose their lives in India every year in road accidents. The injured include some of those who can’t be treated. They live in agony throughout their lives.
5% overspeeding allowed
The notification stated that no cognizance of the violation of the speed limits shall be taken under Section 183 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, if the variation in speed is within 5 per cent of the maximum speed specified on the respective roads. This clarity in notification is good thinking on part of SHP as it would avoid unnecessary conflicts as field units normally tend to be very strict in enforcement of rules.
13,261 killed in road accidents in Maharashtra
According to statistics, Maharashtra recorded 13,261 fatalities in road accidents in year 2018,. Of them, 80 per cent were caused due to human error, stated Transport Minister Diwakar Raote while speaking after inaugurating the Road Safety Week in February this year. Pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and cyclists together comprise 66 per cent of the fatalities. In 2016, the total road fatalities was 12,935 while it was 12,511 in 2017, in State.
Data also revealed that Maharashtra witnessed 17,848 road accidents between January and June 2019, in which 6,844 people were killed and 15,697 others injured.
The State Highway police is taking enormous efforts to bring down road fatalities in the state. Acting on a Supreme Court directive, the state government has already taken initiatives to reduce the number of accidents. It has formed a dedicated road safety cell, set up a road safety fund, identified accident-prone black spots and formed a state road safety council and district-wide road safety committee.
The Highway police had launched an innovative mobile application for collection of accident data (crash data) replacing the archaic manual method used by police personnel for recording spot details. With help of app, the cops would get scientific analysis about the cause of accidents. This in turn will help in identifying reasons and help in taking steps for removing deficiencies in road engineering.
The application - MRADMS Maharashtra - can be accessed only by the registered police officials from Google Play Store. They will have to fill up detailed analysis of every accidents including case number, date, time, sections, road type, vehicle category, reason of the accident, number persons killed or injured, etc. The road traffic accidents require a systematic analysis to evolve possible solutions and for taking counter measures to improve the safety and rectify spots that are prone to accidents.
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