Mumbai, the city that never sleeps, recorded 350 deaths in road accidents last year. As per the traffic police's annual report, 42 per cent of the total accidents were hit and run, while pedestrian casualty rate was the highest at 57 per cent.
Most of the 2020, starting from the third week of March, had gone into pandemic induced lockdown, which reduced number of accidents and fatalities largely. When compared to 2019, the accidents reduced by 22 per cent and compared to 2010, there has been a decline of 45 per cent in the fatalities. Last year, the city witnessed total of 350 deaths due to crashes which were 447 in the preceding year.
The report, released in collaboration with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, also highlights that pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclist and three wheeler occupants were the most vulnerable road users, which amounted to 93 per cent of the total deaths recorded last year. The report stated that 148 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in 2020 which was 42 pe rcent of the total fatalities followed by two and three wheeler drivers which were 39 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Addressing a press conference, joint commissioner of police (Traffic) Rajvardhan said, "Zero fatality rate is our goal, as we have seen that pedestrians are the most vulnerable, so while educating the motorist, we will also educate pedestrians. We are also going to educate school children about road safety as they are future road users. We are also trying to make the roads more pedestrian friendly.”
Rajvardhan added that despite reduction in deaths owing to the pandemic, the declining trend in crash fatalities in Mumbai is a positive sign.
