Kolkata: In a first for West Bengal, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday deployed three advanced Truck Mounted Attenuators (TMAs) on the accident-prone Dhankuni-Kharagpur stretch of NH-16, introducing globally used crash-protection technology to improve the safety of highway workers and motorists.The TMAs were inaugurated on the high-speed corridor, one of eastern India’s busiest freight and passenger routes, as part of NHAI’s push to adopt international best practices in highway safety.Truck Mounted Attenuators are specially engineered impact-absorbing vehicles that shield maintenance crews, emergency responders and enforcement personnel working on live carriageways. In the event of an errant vehicle crashing into a stationary or slow-moving maintenance vehicle, the TMA absorbs much of the impact, reducing the risk of fatalities and serious injuries.Officials said the deployment is expected to improve work-zone safety, minimise the severity of secondary crashes, enable faster clearance of accidents and enhance overall traffic management on the corridor.Alongside the launch, NHAI distributed road safety equipment to the West Bengal Police and the transport department to strengthen enforcement and emergency response. The equipment included 500 raincoats, 500 high-visibility reflective jackets, traffic barricades, cones, blinkers and other safety gear.“Road safety remains NHAI’s highest priority. The deployment of Truck Mounted Attenuators on the Dhankuni-Kharagpur corridor is another important step towards adopting advanced safety technologies and protecting every road user,” said Sanjeev Sharma, regional officer, NHAI.Anup Vikal, chief executive officer of Maple Highways, whose subsidiary Dhankuni Kharagpur Tollway Ltd operates the highway section, said the introduction of the TMAs reflected a joint commitment with NHAI to implement global standards in highway operations, strengthen emergency response and make national highways safer.The Dhankuni-Kharagpur stretch of NH-16 carries some of the heaviest traffic in eastern India and has witnessed frequent accidents because of its high traffic volume and speed. Highway safety experts believe the deployment of TMAs will provide an additional layer of protection for personnel engaged in maintenance and incident management, while reducing risks for motorists passing through work zones.
