[TusharK]

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is monitored closely around the clock for traffic violations. Now, with upgraded systems in place, it's going to get really difficult to speed on the access-controlled e-way.



The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is installing 430 advanced CCTV cameras at 106 locations along the route by mid-October.

Sanjay Yadav, the joint MD of MSRDC, revealed that all cameras will be interconnected through an optical fibre network to a central control room. An Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) will document various traffic violations, such as excessive speeding, reckless driving, wrong-way driving, motorway stops, lane changes, and driving in the wrong lane, among others.

The system will also feature a spot and average speed detection system at 39 locations and a lane discipline violation detection system at 34 locations. 130 spots on the e-way will be equipped with wrong-way entry detection, while variable messaging signs and weather monitoring systems will be installed at 23 locations and 11 locations, respectively.

The system will also keep an eye on commercial vehicles. There will be weigh-in-motion systems at all entry points. An automatic vehicle counter and classifier will be installed at toll booths, along with automatic number plate recognition and violation detection cameras for penalty collection.

Mobile surveillance vans and emergency vehicles like towing vans, ambulances and cranes will be equipped with displays, cameras and a vehicle tracking system.

A command and control centre located at Lonavala will receive the feed from all the cameras. Officials will also be able to access the feed online. Violation challans will be generated immediately and validated by officials with photo and video evidence.

Source: Mid-day

Link to Team-BHP News

[TROOPER]

Originally Posted by TusharK

An Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) will document various traffic violations, such as excessive speeding, reckless driving, wrong-way driving, motorway stops, lane changes, and driving in the wrong lane, among others.

The system will also keep an eye on commercial vehicles.

1. How will they police reckless driving and lane changes when one has to zig zag their way around taxis and other PVs going at 60-80 on the fast lane?

2. Hope they can do something about CVs occupying the first lane on Lonavala inclines, since that's 90% of the reason for traffic on the Pune bound side.

[GTE]

The speed limits (30 kms in some locations) set look like they have been set by a severely intellectually challenged person. Also the haphazard signs with 100kph on one side and 80kph on the other side. The main motive seems to be extraction of money to meet a target, else they would have mobile patrols to catch rash drivers, which there is no shortage of numbers at any given time.

[Axe77]

I hope they don’t gun for selective over-speeding enforcement alone.

Penalise and actually ensure lane compliance by all concerned, including overtaking lanes; increase speed limit to 120 kmph; ensure you catch vehicles with covered / concealed / illegal font plates; ensure sensible limits in select sections (30 - 50 kmph on fast downhill sections is needlessly slow) etc etc.

[Hayek]

Speed cameras have become yet another money making vehicle for our state Governments. We already have completely irrational speed limits (even 100 kmph is too low on an expressway) and no penalties for third rate overloaded trucks or even hyper miler cars driving at 30-50 kmph even with no one ahead of them. Further, speeding is the only offence that is ever prosecuted - you have examples of auto rickshaw, two wheeler and tempo drivers happily going the wrong way on highways and other major roads without ever being penalised - but private cars alone are targeted.

This is going to be another disaster - at any rate, I have decided that I just assume there will be ₹4-6 k of fines on any Poona journey and treat that as part of the cost of a driving holiday.

BTW, the picture in the original post shows one example of incorrect driving, cars ambling along in the middle and right lanes when the left lane is empty.

[Mustang Sammy]

One more way to milk taxpayers, while letting the road go to ruin.
Some patches, especially the downhill section between the Khopoli turnoff and Khalapur are horrible, and downright dangerous to drive on at speeds > 60 kmph.

[el lobo 6061]

1. They should change the name of Mumbai-Pune Expressway to Mumbai-Pune Vasooli Way.

2. Haphazard & illogical speed limits of 100, 80, 60, 45 and 30 kmph. You want the driver to drive safely or keep scanning for speed limit boards. Night driving will be even more strenuous.

3. There are Interceptor positioned with Laser guns at places where downhill speed limit is set at 45 Kmph. Try driving at such speeds when a trailer is behind you. Here main motive of Interceptor is to make money.

4. Expressway are meant to have a standard speed limit of 120 Kmph and 100 Kmph inside tunnels. But MPEW is how we can loot docile car owners with impractical speed limits.

5. I hate driving on this highway and after mid October might as well avoid it altogether and use old highway.

6. In future if you spot a X1 driving sedately ay 70 Kmph, its not broken, its saving itself from trouble of 430 cameras. Hope they don't challan car for driving slow.

End of rant.

[GTE]

In most countries the Automobile Associations are there to protect the rights of drivers to a fair system, here.......

[adi.mariner]

There should be fines for under speeding, if there is a term like that for going consistently below the speed limit. Time to increase usage of the old Mumbai - Pune Highway.
Also speeding tickets on Mumbai Pune Expressway should be tax deductible under 80G as it is a donation due to the ridiculous speed limits on some of the sections.

[SAS]

Can someone mention the speed limits on the highway and the ghat section? The boards indicate both 80 and 100 on the open stretches, not sure what to follow.

Also how do we identify the ghat section start and end? its not clearly marked with boards..

Also after the expressway ends and we head on towards Bangalore, whats the speed limit between Pune and Bangalore? I heard its reduced to 90 kmph. Can someone throw light on this?

[Mumbaiker]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

2. Haphazard & illogical speed limits of 100, 80, 60, 45 and 30 kmph. You want the driver to drive safely or keep scanning for speed limit boards. Night driving will be even more strenuous.

Totally agree. As part of the solution (co-incidentally was speaking with my wife about this today morning), the authorities should put up board may be 500mts to a Km in advance stating the speed limit in the next section clearly.
I cant imagine myself driving at 30kmph when coming back to Mumbai from Pune. Its going to be a nightmare for sure.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by Hayek

This is going to be another disaster - at any rate, I have decided that I just assume there will be ₹4-6 k of fines on any Poona journey and treat that as part of the cost of a driving holiday.

The issue is not just your willingness to absorb the cost. You could easily be a safe and responsible driver, driving with lane discipline and never cutting other drivers off, being unpredictable or being a threat to other road users and YET, rack up a bunch of speeding tickets with these lop sided enforcements.

But these are all speeding challans being generated against your name (assuming you are the registered owner of the car). Whether or not your driver was at the wheel or even if you were at the wheel.

God forbid, if some day your high end vehicle should be involved in a bad accident with a smaller vehicle, can you just imagine the narrative. XYZ had a history of speeding violations and was known to drive dangerously.. We saw similar statements in the context of the Cyrus Mistry crash where a history of the driver’s traffic violations were cited. A BMW or German car with a history of speeding tickets is just bait to be misrepresented in any such possible (god forbid) future scenario.

[revvharder]

Government just wants to harass the common man, time and again and no one is speaking up. Whether be it NGT or State governments, everybody wants to milk the common man till they can because they know the common man will not raise their voice because they are busy making ends meet.

Though i wonder what will happen when in future insurance gets linked to driving license fines like in USA, everyone will be driving 70-80 kmph on these expressways.

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by Axe77

You could easily be a safe and responsible driver, YET, rack up a bunch of speeding tickets with these lop sided enforcements.

But all speeding challans.. are.. against your name XYZ had a history of speeding violations and was known to drive dangerously.. We saw similar statements in the context of the Cyrus Mistry crash

All very valid points. The fact is that I am already in that boat - have 5 challans between 2017 and date on the X3, and 11 between 2021 and date on the Tiguan. 4 of the X3 challans are for speeding (typically 120 kmph in 100 kmph zones on the Expressway), and 6 of those for the Tiguan are for speeding (typically, speeds of around 105-108 kmph in 100 kmph zones and one case of 80 kmph on the downhill on the Expressway where they have a nutty 50 kmph limit). All those on the X3 were with me driving - those on the Tiguan are mainly where my driver was driving. And even though the Tiguan is owned by my employer, it is allotted to me - and I have to take responsibility for everything to do with it.

So yes, this is a risk one has to live with - and guess 30 tickets is worse than 16. But the narrative already exists. And would exist even if a BMW had zero tickets - by definition our cops claim that all accidents are caused by speeding cars - even where it is of a person walking on a freeway where pedestrians are prohibited as happened a couple of days ago.

[GTE]

The powers that be are not bothered about ridiculously set speed limits because they are not bothered to obey them just like signal lights etc. In Bombay the police keep a hawk eye on places where people unintentionally break the law because of poor signage etc. The other thing I have noticed is that cops rarely bother about infringements by taxi drivers, I 'wonder' why.