Driving on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway? Check if your vehicle is allowed to ply

If you ride a two-wheeler or three-wheeler, make sure not to venture out to see what the new Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is like. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has said that motorcycles, scooters, three-wheelers and other slow-moving vehicles like tractors will not be allowed to ply on the Delhi to Dausa stretch. The 246-km stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was inaugurate by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. Vehicles using the stretch are being charged toll fee from February 15.

To keep the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway safer for commuters, the NHAI has taken several steps. One of the steps include complete ban of two-wheelers and three-wheelers from using the expressway. The decision is in line with some of the other expressways like the Delhi-Meerut Expressway where motorcycles, scooters and three-wheelers are barred from plying and attract a heavy fine. Though NHAI has not revealed anything about the penalty for violating this norm, it has made it clear that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway stretch will remain out of bounds for all vehicles other than cars, buses and trucks.

The NHAI came out with a notification regarding the ban on two and three-wheelers on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. It said, “The movement of high speed vehicles may pose risk to the safety of certain classes of comparatively slow moving vehicles e.g. two wheelers, three wheelers and other slow-moving vehicles like non-motorised vehicles, agricultural tractors (with or without trailers) due to their vulnerability and associated speed differentials and compromise the road safety aspects."

One of the first accidents on this stretch of the expressway involved a tractor which overturned in a collision near the Hilalpur toll on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway last week. Commuters using the expressway have also complained about rampant wrong-side driving too.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway comes with a speed limit of 120 kmph for light motor vehicles (LMVs) which includes cars. The speed limit for trucks and buses is 80 kmph. It is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Mumbai to just 12 hours and shorten the distance by 130 kms. The new stretch also promises to reduce travel time between Delhi and Jaipur to around three hours.