Starting from today commuters breaking the speed limit along the 165km-long stretch of Yamuna expressway will no longer get away scot-free. The concessionaire of the expressway has been directed by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) to integrate a traffic violation challan system, which will issue a traffic violation detail included in the toll fee slip.

In case a commuter violates a traffic rule, the violation slip will be handed over to her/him at the next toll plaza before he exits the expressway.

The expressway sees nearly 4,500 violations daily. Most of these challans remain pending as the traffic police are unable to get them received by the offender.

According to officials, about 4 lakh challans are pending till date and are yet to be served to errant motorists. The latest move comes following a meeting convened by Yeida CEO Arun Vir Singh, SP (traffic) AK Jha and concessionaire of expressway Jaypee group on Wednesday.

Last week, in a meeting held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed the YEIDA, Jaypee Infratech and the police to take effective steps to reduce road accidents. The meeting was held after the Supreme Court ordered the state government to ensure safety of motorists on the expressway. The SC directions came in response to a petition that sought safety for motorists on the eway on which 540 people have been killed in accidents so far. SC will hear the road safety case again on April 20, said officials.

The Allahabad High Court had directed the state government to constitute a high-level experts committee in 2015, but the recommendations of this committee have not yet been implemented properly.

The Central Roads Research Institute has identified overspeeding and tyre bursting as the main causes of accidents on the Yamuna Expressway. But the builder, Jaypee Infratech, and the Expressway Authority have so far shown no inclination to take drastic measures.

According to Yeida officials, the system will be implemented with effect from March 10, 2018. “We have directed the concessionaire to have the system in place by the stipulated time.”“The aim is to enforce traffic norms and deter commuters from speeding. Inability to serve the challans has led to a lack of enforcement by the traffic police,” he explained. “The aim is to deter speeding by motorists and thereby to lessen the accidents on the high-speed stretch.”

According to the plans, the police and the authority have integrated 25km Noida-Greater Noida Expressway with the Yamuna Expressway.

“Since Noida has an intelligent traffic management system and the Yamuna eway also has high-definition cameras at regular intervals, catching traffic violators won’t be tough. If a vehicle crosses the 100km/hour mark, our control room in Noida’s Sector 14A and Jewar toll plaza will get a message about the details of the vehicle. When the vehicle will approach the toll plaza executive to pay toll, we will hand over a copy of the challan,” said Anil Kumar Jha, superintendent of police (traffic), Gautam Budh Nagar.

Officials of the concessionaire said they will comply with the directions of YEIDA. “We hope motorists will comply with the traffic norms and drive according to speed limits,” an official said. “We see daily violations of speed limits totalling about 4,500. Details of these are shared with respective state RTOs every day. Authorities hope that the new integrated system will help in further deterring speeding.