77 died in accidents reported on Yamuna Expressway in 2019 alone

A UP Roadways bus had today dashed against the safety railing at a high speed and plunged about 20 feet into a drain, killing 29 people.

The mangled remains of a bus are seen after it skidded off the six-lane Yamuna Expressway and fell into a large drain near Agra on 8 July 2019. (Photo | PTI)

LUCKNOW: The Yamuna Expressway, which witnessed the death of 29 people on Monday, seems to have become a highway of accidents.

At least 77 people have died this year in different accidents on the 165-km expressway, according to RTI data accessed by NGO SaveLIFE Foundation.

There have been 4,880 accidents between August 9, 2012, and January 31, 2018.

More than 700 lives have been lost and over 7,488 people injured in those accidents, the NGO said.

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"There's an urgent need to improve enforcement on our highways. This is not a one-off incident. In 2017, over 9,000 people have lost their lives in preventable bus crashes," SaveLIFE Foundation CEO Piyush Tewari said.

"The other urgent action required is on engineering issues. Most of our highways are missing crash barriers and other infrastructure measures that can prevent a crash from becoming fatal," Tewari said.

Early morning on Monday, a UP Roadways bus had dashed against the safety railing of the Expressway in Agra at a high speed and plunged about 20 feet into a drain, killing 29 people.

Tewari said the missing safety infrastructure on highways is a pandemic that requires urgent attention. "We hope the UP government as well as the Union government will take urgent policy and on-ground measures to control it."