As the Expressway continues to witness repeated accidents,claiming several innocent lives,Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officials say it is human error that kills people and not the road. Manish Askhedkar,an IT professional who travels between Pune and Mumbai twice a week,said,We see boards that indicate speed limit to be 80 km per hour. But neither heavy buses nor cars and heavy containers abide by the rule. And after an accident as the damaged vehicles are not immediately removed from the road,commuters waste a lot of time stuck in traffic snarls. Deputy superintendent of police with SHP Shashikant Mane said,We have asked for many changes. For instance,we had decided for parking bays at regular intervals on the expressway. But those have not come up. We regularly suggest markings on the road. There have always been delays in implementations of suggestions. Though these problems are not always responsible for all the accidents,they are very crucial and should be removed whenever suggested. An SHP inspector said,on the condition of anonymity,We must understand that these errors are condition induced human errors and can definitely be minimised if we bring in some changes. On our level,we have suggested many changes,bit MSRDC has been taking a lot of time in implementing them. We had asked MSRDC to identify accident-prone spots,make corrective changes and put up signages. But the work is going on very slowly. MSRDC officials said many of the changes have been brought in and some of them are in the pipeline. A V Deodhar,chief engineer for expressway,said,There are open spaces behind the food malls where big vehicles can be parked and drivers can take rest. We redo markings as and when it necessary. Because it is a cemented road,the speed limit is 80 km per hour. We cannot do anything if people cross 100 kmph or sometimes reach 150 kmph. SHP has speed guns,they should take action. When asked about the number of people fined per day for speeding,DySP Mane claimed,I cannot give you the exact number but we regularly conduct drives where people are fined for crossing speed limits.
