State transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar on Friday announced that over 40,000 violators have been booked on Mumbai-Pune highways, which includes over 6,000 motorists for not wearing seatbelts, in an ongoing drive since December 1. Nearly 7,000 car drivers have been booked for speeding on the Expressway.
The campaign is being carried out on Pune Expressway and the old Mumbai-Pune highway and will continue till May end. “We have imposed penalties on various offenders including those not wearing seatbelts,” he said. The drive on the use of seatbelts was important for the transport department, especially after the tragic crash last September in which former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry had died.
“We plan to create more awareness on the importance of seatbelts. Also, those caught on the highway not wearing seatbelts were sent for counselling,” Bhimanwar said. Those caught for speeding were also counselled and asked to sign a road safety pledge stating that they will not repeat the offence, he added.
The statistics released to the media on Friday showed that speeding cases on Mumbai-Pune route were high in January (2,508 cases) and February (1,596 cases). They were below 1000 cases for in March as well as in April, so far. As for seatbelt cases, maximum persons were apprehended in January (1,541 cases). Similarly, 6,441 were booked for lane cutting, especially heavy goods trucks which take the rightmost lane and obstruct cars. Regular travellers on the route however alleged that trucks often take the rightmost lane and make it difficult for cars and SUVs to overtake.
During the campaign, transport officials also caught 656 motorists for speaking on mobile phones while driving, 3,194 for wrong parking, and 1,226 vehicles were found “not-road-worthy” on Mumbai-Pune route.
