At 6 in Aug, fatalities on B'luru-Mysuru highway come down

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The unending fatalities due to overspeeding and not following the road safety measures on the Bengaluru to Mysuru highways have come down, thanks to the efforts of the traffic police and the state government.

Fatalities on the highway dropped to 6 in August, whereas it was 29 in May, the highest. It was 28 in June and 8 in July.

According to the police, a total of 63 people have died in accidents on the expressway in the past four months.

Alok Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, Traffic and Road Safety, took to Twitter to confirm the count. He said the department has been trying its best to minimize the fatalities on the Bengaluru Mysuru Highway, adding there is no room for complacency and recklessness.

“Rash and negligent driving is a certain recipe for disaster”, he noted. The Bengaluru-Mysore Highway is one of the busiest highways in Karnataka.

In the past few months, there has been a sharp increase in the number of fatalities on this highway. State police with the help of the state government installed AI-based cameras on the highways on June 25 to capture the offenders, which also aimed to simultaneously reduce the accidents and fatalities due to over speeding and traffic violations.

They also banned twowheelers and auto-rickshaws on the highways and registered more than a hundred cases till August 5. Since the ban from August 1, the district police have collected as much as Rs 7 lakh from the banned vehicle users as the fine amount.

Over 500 vehicle users have also been booked for speeding and 250 cases for violating lane discipline.

Of the three lanes on the highways, the first lane allows the public to drive their vehicles at a speed not exceeding 60 Kmph, followed by 80 and 100 Kmph in the second and third lanes.

According to sources, offenders involved in accidents on the expressway have had their driving licences (DLs) suspended for a minimum of six months and a thorough evaluation of their driving skills before restoring their suspended DL.