According to the released data, the death toll on the old Mumbai-Pune highway has come down by 54% since 2018.
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The data was released by the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway Vision Zero Project, a joint initiative of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Maharashtra Highway Police, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India and SaveLife Foundation.
In 2018, when the project was started, there were 268 fatalities in the Mumbai-Pune section of NH-48.
“As a result of the interventions undertaken under this project, the number of deaths in 2019 came down to 206. Although in 2020, according to police records, the actual number was 79, to report the impact of the project, a conservative figure of 123 is considered based on the deaths in the first and fourth quarters of the year, when COVID-19 The associated challenges and restrictions were negligible. A press statement from the SaveLife Foundation said the extrapolation of the 123 deaths also took into account past available trends from Q2 and 3 of other years.
The extension of National Highway 48 between Pune and Mumbai is known as Old Mumbai Pune Highway. Before the commissioning of the six-lane expressway in the early 2000s, the Old Highway was the only direct road link between the two metropolises.
Commenting on the work done by MSRDC, Dr Chandrakant Pulkundwar, Joint Managing Director, MSRDC said, “Last year, we pioneered some major initiatives on NH-48, which have helped us improve road safety, Including the elimination of black spots on a stretch of road. Known as Anda Point. We now have dedicated patrol vehicles to ensure strong enforcement to remove illegally parked vehicles.
Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay, Additional Director General of Police, Traffic, said, “The old Mumbai-Pune highway sees more diverse traffic, which has a lot of vulnerable road users. So we have allocated additional personnel to strengthen enforcement.”
Gurpratap Boparai, MD, Skoda Auto Volkswagen Group in India, said, “Skoda Volkswagen has a long standing reputation for manufacturing reliable, reliable and safe vehicles. In an effort to advance road safety, we have partnered with SaveLife Foundation on the ‘Vision Zero’ project on the old Mumbai-Pune highway. We believe that this model can serve as a template for future road safety programs across the country.
Piyush Tiwari, Founder and CEO, SaveLife Foundation, said, “The success of this project is a testimony to our partnership with Skoda Volkswagen Auto India, MSRDC and Maharashtra Police. Through this partnership, we have been able to successfully demonstrate the success of the model on National Highways.”
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