A recent data published by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH)'s Transport Research Wing states that the number of road accidents and fatalities in Maharashtra has seen a slight dip in numbers in the last five years. The drop in road accidents can be attributed to the efforts taken by police and other stakeholders to create awareness among motorists and instilling road sense.
The data revealed that Maharashtra stands second among states arranged by the size of reduction in accidents with a reduction of 2,792 incidents after Tamil Nadu. While Maharashtra had recorded 35,717 road accidents in 2018, it dropped to 32,925 last year, showing a drop rate of 7.8 per cent, stated the data. The number of fatalities in road accidents also reduced to 12,788 last year from 13,261, marking a decline of 3.6 per cent. The road fatalities recorded in 2019 secured a second place to the state for percentage share of total number of people killed.
Thee decreasing number of the road accidents can be attributed to the efforts taken by the Highway and State police over the years and bringing down accidents at Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Pune, Solapur, Ahmednagar, Nashik districts,which are 30 percent contributors for road accidents in Maharashtra. In a bid to curb accidents, the state highway police had introduced the Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) on the expressway.
The ITMS helped police to make roads safer for the users as one of the major causes of road accidents were over-speeding and drunk driving followed by road indiscipline, using mobile phone while driving, non-compliance of using helmets and seat belts, overtaking and jumping signals.
