The latest report published by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) reveals that there has been a 27 per cent decline in road traffic deaths over the past five years, which has decreased from 611 in 2015 to 475 in 2019.
Of these fatalities, pedestrians constituted a massive 47 per cent share, followed by motorcyclists and cyclists at 41 and two per cent respectively.
According to the data, men aged between 20 and 29 years accounted for 80 per cent of total deaths.
The report also states that there were 172 road crash deaths recorded in the first eight months of the year, which shows a significant decrease when compared to the previous years of 300 and 314 in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
According to the data, pedestrians and motorcyclists continue to be the most vulnerable group of road users.
Evening peak hours between 6 pm and 9 pm have been identified as the risk period, which observes most of the fatal road crashes and injuries.
"There were more injuries and deaths during evening peak hour travel times, and on weekends this risk period was extended through the evening with the highest number between 22.00-23.00," said Dr. Sara Whitehead, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Consultant, Vital Strategies.
Yashasvi Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) added, "In the evenings, most of the people are out and about on the streets, be it in a vehicle or on foot, which eventually makes them vulnerable in such road accidents. It has also been observed that evening hours are the densest, as the number of vehicles increases on roads, subsequently elevating the risk factor."
The annual report has also identified the Western and Eastern Express Highways as the highest-risk corridors over the past three years, which saw 346 and 242 road crashes, whereas Amar Mahal junction on EEH was found to be the most dangerous junction in Mumbai.
