While the state has swung into action after Sunday's landslide, which killed 2, they have yet to tackle the biggest cause of accidents on the E-Way -- human error, with sleepy, speeding drivers leading the pack
Two people dying because of a natural phenomenon, which happened following the landslide on Sunday, is a major aberration as far as people losing their lives on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is concerned.
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The landslide caused a 15-km traffic jam on Sunday
Analysis of two sets of data available with mid-day reveals unambiguously that human error is the biggest cause of accidents on the expressway, by a wide margin.
The Save life foundation found that of the 364 accidents that took place on the expressway between October 2012 and October 2014, every single one was caused by human error. File pics
And, of the various kinds of human errors, the ones that have resulted in the most accidents are drivers sleeping on the wheel or driving while fatigued, and speeding.
Numbers game
Data compiled by the Highway Police reveals that 14,186 accidents took place on the expressway between January 2006 and August 2014 and 925 people died between January 2006 and June 2013.
Of these, a whopping 85.71 per cent. or 12,158 accidents, took place due to human error including driver sleeping fatigue, speeding, improper lane change, improperly parked vehicles and pedestrians’ dangerous behaviour.
Watch video: Landslide blocks traffic on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
The numbers from a study conducted by a leading research foundation are even more startling. The Save Life foundation found that of the 364 accidents that took place on the expressway between October 2012 and October 2014, every single one was caused by human error.
The report, which was submitted to the office of the Additional Director General of Police (Traffic) on December 19, 2014, stated that sleepy, tired and speeding drivers caused the most accidents and listed a slew of measures that could be taken to bring down the number of mishaps.
Breaking it down
The study clearly states that human error contributed to a majority of the accidents. For example, 108 accidents, or nearly 30 per cent, took place because of sleeping or fatigued drivers.
Excessive speeding for conditions led to 65 accidents and 48 accidents took place because drivers exceeded speed limits. Even driving slowly led to accidents, with driving too slow for conditions causing 19. Improper lane change and parked vehicles were the other major reasons for accidents (see box).
“A combined approach entailing best practices across enforcement, emergency care, engineering and education is the only solution to the high number of road accidents taking place on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
We are hopeful that the government will take the required steps,” said Piyush Tewari of the Save Life Foundation. According to Mantralaya sources, the data was submitted to the PWD ministry in March 2015.
Highway police
As per the data compiled by the State Highway Police, a total of 14,186 accidents took place on the expressway between Jan 2006 and August 2014.
Also read: Major landslide at Mumbai-Pune Expressway, 1 dead, 2 injured
The data stated that 85.71 per cent of the accidents took place because of human error, 14.23 per cent because of mechanical issues and only 0.06 per cent or less than 9 accidents took place for other reasons, including natural calamities.
Of the people involved in the accidents, 573 people landed up in critical condition, 2,473 sustained major injuries and 5,994 of them suffered minor injuries.
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