Maharashtra and Mumbai, both have topped the national lists of accidental deaths reported in the year 2019, according to data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). While fatal road accidents have seen a dip, the road structure continues to see a problem for motorists.
According to the report, Maharashtra stood first with the highest number of accidental deaths at 70,329, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 42,431 and UP with 40,596. As compared to the preceding year's figures of the state's accidental deaths at 68,834, there has been a rise by 2.2 percent. Of the total accidental deaths recorded in 2019, over 573 were caused by force of nature, the rest were caused by other causes.
Following cue from Maharashtra, the state's capital also had maximum numbers of such fatalities in Mumbai, being on top of the list with 9,246 incidents, followed by Delhi at 4,516 and Bengaluru at 4,016. While 2019 recorded the highest number of accidental deaths in cities list with Mumbai, the figure of almost 200 less than what was recorded in the preceding year.
There has been an overall decline in the number of traffic accidents in the country from 4,74,638 in 2018 to 4,67,171 in 2019. Meanwhile, Maharashtra recorded 27,286 road accidents in 2019, they were 8.3 per cent less than its preceding year at 29,740. Mumbai too followed cue and recorded 588 road accidents as compared to 691 in 2018, stated the report.
A time-wise break up also showed that most number of fatal road accidents occurred during peak returning hours between 6pm and 9PM. During 2019, two wheelers have accounted for maximum fatal road accidents, said the report.
Maximum railway accidents were reported in Maharashtra accounting for 22.6 percent, which comes to 6,338 out of 27,987 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh with 3,980. Maharashtra also reported the highest fatalities in railways accidents, accounting for 15.9 percent of total deaths in railways accidents respectively. On the other hand, Mumbai recorded only two rail accidental deaths in 2019.
