Mumbai: "These" Measures By Traffic Police Decreased Road Accidents Fatality In 2022

In a welcoming news for Mumbaikars, over the last few years, fatal crashes or road accidents in Mumbai have shown a declining trend with casualties coming further down in the first six months of 2022 as compared to the corresponding period in pre-pandemic year 2019.

Meanwhile, the fatalities continued to rise this year as well across Maharashtra.

According to data released by the Mumbai Traffic Police, while 447 people were killed in 420 crashes in 2019, 387 people succumbed to their injuries caused in 376 crashes in 2021.

Besides, 2020 saw 349 road mishap casualties with the dip being attributed to lockdown called during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022 so far, 156 people died in 154 crashes till June in Mumbai. In 2019, 233 people were killed in 215 crashes in the same period. In 2021, 202 people were killed in road accidents during the period.

Police officials said that eight strategic measures have been undertaken by the department to decrease fatalities. These included:

• Heavy enforcement where cops registered FIRs against motorists driving in wrong direction besides counselling of drivers and pillion riders not wearing helmets.
• Visiting accident spots for analysis, recommending suitable measures to departments concerned for road engineering changes and taking possible action at traffic department level.
• Having maximum presence of traffic policemen during peak hours and suitably during night at specific spots where accidents occur.
• Continuous monitoring of roads/traffic by our CCTV system.
• Information given to departments concerned for potholes etc. and following up with them.
• Extensive awareness drives at school, colleges and on the streets.

The above mentioned measures have worked for Mumbai Police, while it remains grim at the state level.

As per Maharashtra Highway Traffic Police, in the first six months of this year increased to 8,068 people being killed when compared to 2019 when 7,069 people were killed in the same period. In 2021, about 6,837 people were killed till June.

Further, fatalities in Maharashtra show an increasing trend over the past few years. About 12,788 people were killed in crashes in 2019 while the number rose to 13,528 in 2021. Due to the pandemic-induced lockdown, fatalities had decreased to 11,569 in 2020.

Another trend witnessed this year was sudden decrease, as compared to last year, in enforcement cases in which people had to pay up the increased fines for violations.