CM Devendra Fadnavis mentions plans for "intelligent highways" for better traffic management in Mumbai

The highways need to be smart to prevent accidents and maintain better management of traffic, said CM Fadnavis at the Road Safety Fortnight inauguration. Chief minister's statement comes following the state's plan to implement smart transport system on city, Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Nagpur Expressways. The highways would have WiFi, speed guns, CCTVs et cetera.

At the Road Safety Fortnight's inauguration, CM Devendra Fadnavis stated the need to develop an intelligent traffic management system for Mumbai for better traffic management and controlling the speed of vehicles. The plan is to replicate the system across Maharashtra in the near future.

Transport department officials said the system would study driving habits of motorists, kinds of traffic offences and traffic pattern. The authorities can analyse these and develop a customised system to prevent accidents and ensure smooth traffic flow. Highways contribute 57 per cent of the total accidents in Maharashtra.

"The sensors on road will inform the signal about number of vehicles on road, traffic density and accordingly reflect traffic lights. It would help in improving traffic speeds and gradually reduce motorists' complaints about unnecessary detentions at signals," said Fadnavis.

Highways too will have the "intelligent system" in place to control accidents. Fadnavis said the proposed Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway and the missing link of Mumbai-Pune Expressway will have the system.

According to sources, highways account for 15 per cent of total road length and yet account for 57 per cent fatalities. In 2003, the number of fatalities stood at 9,500 while injuries reported were 45,000. Number of fatalities have risen to 12,300 but injuries have dropped to 35,000 in 2017 across the state.

"Such intelligent highways already exist in other parts of the worlds. They either have zero accidents or very rare incidents," the Chief Minister added. Maharashtra government has also identified 743 black spots across the state, of which 55 are in Mumbai. The number of vehicles in state touched 3.28 crores including 36 lakh in Mumbai.