50,000 challaned on expressway in 2 months
THE AVERAGE TRAFFIC PENALTIES IN THE PAST TWO MONTHS HAVE BEEN ABOUT 25,000 TIMES HIGHER THAN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF THE YEAR
NOIDA: Ever since a crackdown on errant vehicles began on April 16 the Yamuna Expressway, 50,056 challans have been issued in the past two months for exceeding the speed limit on the corridor that connects Greater Noida and Agra. This means that on an average more than 800 vehicles are caught speeding daily.
Cameras installed on the expressway used to record speeding vehicles earlier as well.
But traffic police physically stopped vehicles only during special drives and not more than 700-800 challans were issued in a month.
According to traffic police data, since the beginning of this year, 296 traffic violators were penalised on the expressway in January, while no penalties were imposed in February, March and the first half of April.
This would mean the average traffic penalties in the past two months (mid-April to mid-June) have been about 25,000 times higher than the first three months of the year.
During the previous years as well, the traffic penalties had been much lower. During the entire year, 4,448 violators were penalised in 2015, 5,823 in 2016 and 4,413 in 2017.
“Physically stopping speeding vehicles on an expressway is difficult and dangerous for the police. It is also risky from a road safety perspective. Integrating cameras with the e-chal- laning system has helped penalise more violators and they are intimated about it immediately at the toll plaza, which helps keep them in check ,” Anil Kumar Jha, superintendent of police (traffic), Noida, said.
Vehicles riding over 100 kilometres per hour are recorded by cameras installed along the expressway.
While the speed limit on expressways was recently increased to 120kmph, the state government hasn’t enforced it yet.
The driver is issued a challan slip at the Jewar toll plaza, informing him/her about traffic violation and the speed of the vehicle. The system is linked with the e-challan and Vahan applications of the government of India, and a challan is generated instantly by the police at the traffic enforcement centre at the Jewar toll plaza.
Violators who have been issued the ‘speed cam violation slip’ at the toll can pay the Rs 400 fine for speeding at the police window near the toll plaza. Those who do not pay the fine instantly can visit the SP traffic office in Noida to pay the challan amount within seven days.