The state brought forth these numbers at the start of Road Safety Week.
A state government report on Monday revealed that death-on-road in Maharashtra is on the rise. Fatalities in the past three years have risen from 12,935 in 2016 to 13,059 in 2018. This is despite the drop in the number of accidents. The government claims that most victims are pedestrians and two-wheeler riders. The state brought forth these numbers at the start of Road Safety Week.
In 2017, the number of road fatalities stood at 12,511. The state government officials claimed that accident victims are mainly those who drove rashly, broke signals and breached traffic rules. Most of these being two-wheeler motorists. The government claimed that they are helpless over the fact that people do not wear helmets and care little for pedestrians.
"Road safety is a matter of importance for everyone, irrespective of whether or not they own a vehicle. Majority of those involved in road accidents are 2-wheeler riders and pedestrians. The bikers ride rashly, do not wear helmets and even 4 people ride on a single bike. Of the 3.29 crore vehicles in Maharashtra, 2.80 crore are motorbikes and scooters which are now easily available," state transport minister, Diwakar Raote said.
On the other hand the number of accidents have dropped from 36056 in 2017 to 35926 accidents in 2018. The number of people injured have dropped by 3.30 percent. "There are at least 4000 people who have died as they did not wear helmets. Another 2200 of them did not wear seat belts. If these people had taken cognizance then their lives could have been saved," Additional Director General of Police (Traffic), Maharashtra, Vinay Kargaonkar said.
Senior officials from Transport department feel that in order for people to leave their vehicles be it four-wheeler or two-wheeler; there needs to be robust public transport. In a city like Mumbai, the government needs to invest more on dedicated lanes for buses, and keep thorough watch on autos and taxis; feel transport experts. Also the Transport department is looking at involving school and college students in spreading word on road safety.
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