MUMBAI: In a bid to prevent crashes on Pune Expressway near the ghat section, a major drive was carried out against “errant” drivers of heavy goods vehicles over the past week in which 760 vehicles were issued challans. This is the start of such “week long drives” in mishap-prone zones.
On Pune E-way, over 100 were caught for overspeeding which is the leading cause of crashes as heavy vehicles ram into smaller vehicles. Besides, lane-cutting is an issue and the RTO enforcement squad has caught 533 heavy vehicles driving on the right lane reserved for cars/SUVs or for lane-cutting.
“I plan to organise such drives once a week on every stretch which is accident-prone and where fatalities are reported every year. I have asked my officials to cover every district of Maharashtra in the next two months,” , transport commissioner Avinash Dhakne said on Sunday.
Deputy commissioner (enforcement) Abhay Deshpande, who conducted the drive on the E-way, said that speed of trucks in the ghat section needs to be 40 kmph, but many truckers were found driving at 80 kmph and above. “As they speed down the ghats, they ram into cars, resulting in dangerous collisions and fatalities. This needs to be stopped,” he said.
The officials conducting the drive said they also nabbed a few truckers for speaking on phone while driving.
