Amidst spate of accidents on Samruddhi Mahamarg, the latest being on Friday (30 June) wherein 25 people lost their lives, Public address systems are being installed at nearly 60 entry-exit points of the newly opened expressway.
“The new system will appeal to drivers using the highway not to over-speed, drive cautiously, not to drive in the wrong lane etc. Since the highway is straight and does not have curves, it can make one sleep. So precautions have to be taken,” said Sanjay Yadav, the Joint Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
The PAS, a combination of audio amplifier, loudspeaker and microphone, is already in place on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
However, due to the higher risk of highway hypnosis on Samruddhi Mahamarg, announcements will be done with specific messages about feeling sleepiness by the driver.
Highway hypnosis has emerged as the biggest cause of accidents on the Samruddhi Mahamarg, accounting for 98 accidents or 27 per cent of the total 358 accidents reported between December 2022 and April this year.
The MSRDC has elaborate plans to ensure the drivers are kept engaged through positive distractions which would not allow them to slip into highway hypnosis.
As part of this, MSRDC is installing rumblers every 25 km on Samruddhi Mahamarg. Rumble strips provide both an audible warning (rumbling sound) and a physical vibration to alert drivers, beside alerting inattentive drivers. In foggy conditions, rumble strips help drivers stay on the road.
In addition, the MSRDC is putting up colourful flags at regular intervals of every half an hour. Besides this, reflectors are also being put in place to catch the motorist’s attention and keep their brains busy and active and prevent accidents.
Furthermore, they are planting 33 lakh saplings along medians and avenues areas along the road, as shared by an official.
Samruddhi Mahamarg
Officially named ‘Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’, the 701-km-long expressway connects Mumbai and Nagpur.
The first phase of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, connecting Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district covering a distance of 520 km, has been in operation since December 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it.
The second phase of Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg, an 80 km stretch between Shirdi and Bharvir village in Igatpuri taluka in Nashik district, was inaugurated on 27 May 2023 by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
With this, a total of 600 km out of the 701 km of the Samruddhi Expressway is now open to the public. The remaining 100-km stretch under Phase-III, between Igatpuri and Vadpe in Thane, will be completed in the next 7-8 months.
The six-lane greenfield expressway is turning into a death trap with 358 accidents reported between December 2022 and April this year, resulting in 39 casualties over the five-month period.
The most recent incident involved a private AC sleeper bus traveling from Nagpur to Pune, which caught fire after colliding with a steel pole and road divider, resulting in the tragic death of 26 people.
However, the MSRDC has stated that the design of Samruddhi Mahamarg is not to be blamed for any of the reported accidents. The police are currently investigating the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the private AC sleeper bus driver involved in the major accident. They are trying to determine if the driver was using their phone at the time of the incident.
Also Read: Samruddhi Mahamarg: 358 Accidents, 39 Deaths In Five Months And The Big Problem Of Highway Hypnosis
