Deaths in road crashes in Maharashtra increased by 17% in January-November 2022 as compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Over 13500 deaths and 30120 total road crashes were reported in January-November 2022. Very high fatalities were reported in Nashik rural (825), Pune rural (794) and Ahmednagar (770) this year. With newer potentially high speed road being built in the state, such as the recently launched Samruddhi Expressway, the priority should be to improve safety and manage speeds, experts said.
For state roads, a combined approach of electronic enforcement and manual enforcement– in such a way that the time and place of enforcement are unpredictable– will create a lasting impact on driving behaviour. World over, sustained and evidence-based ‘Anytime Anywhere Enforcement’ has proven to be an effective intervention in reducing road crash fatalities.
The silver lining for Mumbai was that crashes and deaths both reduced by at least 36% in January-November 2022 as compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Over 1600 total crashes and 259 fatalities were reported in the city in January-November 2022. Reduction in fatalities could be due to ongoing infrastructure works and reduction of overall speed levels to non-fatal levels, besides installing speed cameras at strategic locations, experts said.