Highway to hell? 68 dead in 113 crashes on Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway in 2025; can tech, cops stop the bloodbath? | Gurgaon News

GURGAON: Sixty-eight people lost their lives and 102 others were injured in 113 accidents on NH8 in the city till July.Delayed alerts on parked vehicles play a big role in road accidents, besides creating snarls. Now, if any vehicle remains stationary anywhere on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (NH8) for more than five seconds, police will receive an alert. Over three lakh vehicles use the expressway in the city daily. Considering the staggering numbers, traffic police have established a special monitoring cell for the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway to receive alerts within five seconds. Traffic police have set up the dedicated monitoring cell in Sector 28 traffic tower to specifically observe traffic on the expressway for a prompt response. A police officer said due to previously delayed alerts, a dedicated team has now been stationed in the cell to immediately inform the relevant traffic in-charges or zonal officers, enabling them to remove defunct vehicles before they cause congestion or prolonged traffic snarls, which could choke traffic in Gurgaon and Delhi.Two police officers have been assigned to this cell to monitor the highway traffic in Gurgaon using advanced software, which sends an immediate alert to the control room if a vehicle is stationary on NH8 for over five seconds. In cases where commuters are found parking their vehicles incorrectly, they will receive a violation ticket from traffic police.Traffic police spokesperson (Gurgaon) Vikas Verma said, “We are making all the possible efforts to decongest the national highways in Gurgaon including NH8 and Dwarka Expressway and other busy roads in the city. With the latest technology and software, police will get an alert about the vehicle stationed for over five seconds on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, following which police will coordinate immediately with the concerned authorities and get the vehicle removed.“

Shankar Chowk, IFFCO Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Panchgaon, among others, are red spots or congestion points on the expressway.DCP (traffic) Rajesh Mohan said, “We are getting the technical analysis done of the red spots in Gurgaon and are working to decongest these points to ease traffic. The dedicated control room for NH8 can be really useful to avoid traffic jams by timely assistance or action by the cops.” After an initiative helped avoid congestion near Rajokri-Sarhaul border and streamline traffic at Shankar Chowk during kanwar yatra last month, traffic police are looking forward to carrying on with the idea. As thousands of kanwars reached Gurgaon through Delhi, causing congestion on the main carriageway of NH8, the DCP, after analysing the situation, requested the concerned authorities to maintain the damaged and unmettaled road inside Dhanchari camp which is a govt land near the border. All the kanwars, for the first time after entering Gurgaon through this border, were diverted to Dhanchari entry gate to avoid any disturbance on the main carriageway. A traffic cop said, “After the road was cleaned and made suitable for pedestrians during kanwar yatra, they easily walked through the passage and after exiting the camp’s internal road, kanwariyas used the service road of Ambience Mall and then used an underpass to not disturb traffic near Chowk. This arrangement turned out to be a huge success and no fatalities or law and order situations were reported anywhere this year due to many such intelligent steps. We are planning to get Dhanchari camp road properly maintained now to enable pedestrians to walk safely without disturbing NH8.”