Fatal accidents rise on Yamuna Expressway

Fatal accidents on the Yamuna Expressway have risen alarmingly despite a slew of road safety campaigns. Between this January and September, 105 people died in 656 accidents on the stretch, an RTI filed by the Agra Development Foundation, an Agra-based social organisation, says.

Last year, the number of accidents stood at 771 and deaths at 127, reports Aditya Dev.

Year 2013 saw the most accidents, at 896, in which 118 people died. The RTI reply further says 2,598 accidents and 383 deaths have taken place on the expressway between August 9, 2012 and September 30, 2015. The number of fatal accidents on the Yamuna Expressway seems to be going up each year, with the slew of campaigns being run on traffic rules and road safety guidelines showing very little or no impact whatsoever.

While the average number of accidents each month (many smaller ones go unreported) has increased substantially, from 64 in 2014 to 73 this year, so have the fatalities.Twelve persons lost their lives per month this year on this dangerous stretch; it was 11 in the previous year, prompting activists to say that the situation is going from bad to worse and better policing and enforcement is urgently needed.

An RTI query filed by Agra Development Foundation, a city-based social organisation, on the matter revealed in an answer that as many as 105 persons lost their lives in 656 accidents between January and September this year, while 127 commuters died in 771 accidents in the 12 months of 2014.

The RTI revealed that 2013 has been the deadliest, with 896 accidents reported. A total of 118 had died that year. KC Jain, ADF secretary, said, "The number of accidents on the e-way has been rising ever since it was opened for public on August 9, 2012.Following the RTI reply we have written to UP CM Akhilesh Yadav seeking his intervention in the matter."

ADF had filed a PIL in the Allahabad high court on the rising number of accidents along the 165 km-long e-way connecting Noida to Agra.Consequently , the court directed the organization to send its suggestions to the state's high level committee on road safety on measures to reduce accidents. "However, instead of the situation improving, more accidents have taken place," said Jain, adding, "the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority has been lax in curbing the menace of speeding, the main reason for fatal accidents on the e-way .The authority has left this issue to the private concessionaire and is not taking any stringent step itself."

The RTI reply further says that altogether 2,598 accidents and 383 deaths have taken place on the expressway between August 9, 2012 and September 30, 2015.