What is ultimately the fault in highway design?
Recently, the family of Anil Joshi, a lawyer from Nagpur, met with an accident near Karanja on this highway, in which his wife and six-year-old daughter were killed. Since then people have started questioning the design of this highway. Now it has come to a situation that if someone they know wants to leave this highway, people warn him first. Not only this, some people are even demanding to close the express highway until the fault in the design of the express highway is identified and resolved.
Driving at night is a big risk
Akshita Vyas, who recently drove on this highway from Nagpur to Shirdi, told Times of India that the highway is mostly straight and elevated, on which one can reach Shirdi from Nagpur in six hours. However, night driving on Samriddhi Express Highway is very dangerous. There are no petrol pumps, rest areas, garages or places to eat. If a person gets stuck at night or suffers an accident, it is also impossible to get help.
Work is still going on at many places
The work on the Samriddhi Express Highway is still incomplete at some places. Where laborers are seen crossing the road between the passing vehicles at the risk of their lives. Not only this, dogs are also seen roaming on the highway which can lead to serious accidents. Thus, the speed limit on this highway is 120 kmph, but many SUVs are seen traveling at a staggering speed of 180kmph.
The speed of 120 kmph is also said to be too high
The informants also say that the speed of 120 km per hour is also very high. It becomes almost impossible for the driver of a vehicle running at this speed to avoid an accident. If we look at the record so far, there are two accidents daily on this highway in which people have also lost their lives. While this highway was being built, there were claims that cars could be driven on it at a speed of 150-160 km per hour. However, the fact is that there are many black spots on this highway. Where such speed can prove fatal.
There are many other issues, such as the lack of a system to provide quick help to the injured on this highway, due to which the busy Samriddhi Express Highway is now infamous for fatal accidents. Now it remains to be seen what steps the government takes to make this highway safe.
