Mid-Day Opinion: Maintain surveillance systems on major roads

Representation pic

The authorities have have tightened surveillance on speeding vehicles and traffic violations on the newly opened Pune-Mumbai Missing Link section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Our report states how advanced speed monitoring cameras will be installed inside all four tunnels on the route, while the Highway Police have also launched a special drive against the illegal entry of heavy vehicles on the restricted stretch.

This has been triggered after concerns over the sharp increase in vehicle speeds on the Missing Link, significantly reducing travel times between Pune and Mumbai. After a fatal accident late recently which claimed one life, officials reviewed additional road safety measures.

Perhaps the most telling comment in our report came from a senior official who pointed out there are two ways to reduce mishaps on the expressway - awareness and enforcement.

While enforcement is for authorities, we must highlight that surveillance, whether existing and now buttressed by additional cameras, must be of extremely high quality. It is futile if quantity overrides quality. More cameras are welcome, but they must be of very high quality, well maintained, repaired if needed, and the footage extremely sharp and clear.

We have often faltered because our cameras, and we are not talking about this case, have not been able to deliver footage in which a situation/person is clearly visible. Sometimes, unknown to all, the camera has been on the blink or the surveillance has been so grainy as to be practically of zilch value.

Awareness about speeding, its perils, should be on the same level as drunk driving. Start a sustained, effective campaign with the slogan ‘Speed does not thrill, it kills'.