Bengaluru:
As the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) banned two-wheelers, autos, tractors, non-motorised vehicles, multi-axle hydraulic trailer vehicles, and quadricycles from the main carriageways of the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway from August 1, experts and motorists welcomed the decision.
Official sources from NHAI said: “The decision was taken to make the stretch safe for motorists. Slow moving vehicles may get involved in accidents as other vehicles will be at high speeds. For the safety of slow moving vehicles, they should use the service roads.”
The Karnataka government had informed the Legislative Assembly in the recent Budget session that the absence of signage boards, poor patrolling, high-speed and reckless driving, and flooding are some the major factors causing fatal accidents on the expressway,.
Prathik Krishna, a frequent commuter on the expressway, welcomed the decision of the NHAI and said: “The decision is good as slow moving vehicles, especially autos and two-wheelers, are dangerous for the other faster vehicles as well as themselves. Most two-wheelers take the middle lane, which is very dangerous.”
Aiyappa, who travels frequently between Bengaluru and Madikeri, welcomed the decision, but he said it is not enough.
“There needs to be a lot more enforcement of rules as well as patrolling as I have witnessed a household plastic goods vendor on an overloaded two-wheeler driving on the wrong side of the fast lane trying to cross to the other side of the expressway. I have also noticed an accident when a farmer was trying to cross his ducks on the expressway. I have even seen people climbing over the fences to cross the expressway,” he said.
Meanwhile, another motorist questioned how is the NHAI going to implement this.
“When there are unmanned on-off ramps every 15-20 km, any person can drive on and off the expressway anytime they want,” said Prasanth Rao.
Experts welcomed the move, but questioned the NHAI for delaying notifying the ban on slow moving vehicles when the expressway was launched.
Speaking to The Hindu, traffic expert M.N. Srihari said: “As the name expressway suggests, the stretch was designed for fast moving vehicles. But autos and two-wheelers go between 30 and 60 kmph. I don’t understand why NHAI had to take so long to ban these vehicles on the expressway.”
However, auto drivers claim that very few autos take the expressway as they are used only by town and city commuters.
Nagaraj K., an auto driver, said: “Now autos are more visible from Bidadi to Ramanagara. So the decision will not have any impact on autos. Only in villages do autos go more than 20 kilometres, or else autos are used in city or town limits.”
