Mumbai-Nashik-Agra Highway Sees Highest Number Of Accidents And Deaths

Mumbai, 13th January 2023: On the Mumbai-Nashik-Agra National Highway, 111 accidents have occurred within Shahapur Traffic Police Station limits during the last two years. 83 passengers died in this accident. 78,000 incidents of violating vehicle speed rules have taken place in the last two years, and a total fine of Rs 9,74,31,000 has been recovered from these vehicle drivers and owners, informed the senior officials of the transport department.

Special measures have been taken by the National Highway Authority to prevent the increasing number of accidents on Mumbai-Nashik-Agra National Highway No. 3, which is known as the busiest. As there is no such facility on the Mumbai-Agra expressway like the one on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, motorists take advantage of it and drive faster than the speed limit. Accidents happen because of it, said the official.

While the vehicle is running on the road, if there is a system that controls the speed of the vehicle on the highway, the driver drives the vehicle at a standard speed because of the fear of the controller. The official said that due to the lack of this facility on the Mumbai-Agra highway, the number of accidents is increasing. In the years 2021-2022, the total number of accidents was 68,320 respectively. 51 and 32 died in the accidents during the two years. There have been 63,178 incidents in 2021 and 14,609 incidents in 2022 of speeding vehicles. The traffic department has collected a fine of Rs 7,35,49,000 in 2021 and Rs 2,38,81,000 last year from these drivers through the e-challan, located viewer system.

Vehicles coming to Maharashtra from North India use the Mumbai-Nashik-Agra highway. Vehicles of the state go north on this highway. Most medium entrepreneurs focus on sending finished goods by road and ordering raw materials. Therefore, although various options are available for goods transportation, many businessmen prefer road transport, said a road transport expert. As the goods in the vehicle need to reach the desired destination on time and lately the transporter has received the invoice from the company and it should reach within the prescribed time otherwise some technical difficulties arise. The traffic officer said that many times accidents are caused by drivers driving at high speed in the rush to reach the target on time.

Taking into account the increasing number of accidents on the Mumbai-Nashik-Agra highway, the National Highway Authority has decided to paint the road boundary lines with white paint, and mark the route on the chowks. The works have been taken up immediately to show the desired route by showing arrows on the roads, the accident-prone areas during the night time, and the turning road to be noticed from a distance. An official of the National Highways Authority (NHI) said that works have been started to put white stripes on the traffic jams, to install a system so that the speed of the vehicles will be reduced on the roads adjacent to the highway.

“The number of vehicles on the Mumbai-Nashik-Agra highway is increasing. Road traffic has increased. The flow of devotees going to Nashik, and Shirdi is increasing. Like other highways, this highway needs to have an effective remedial plan to prevent the increasing number of vehicles and prevent accidents. Such works are now being started by ‘NHI’,” said Bharat Ubale, a social activist.