‘Helmets must for 2-wheeler riders, seat belts for all occupants of 4-wheelers’

Maharashtra's government must enforce helmet and seat belt laws after a Supreme Court directive, with 1% of budgets allocated for road safety initiatives.

MUMBAI: In a meeting with the chief secretary of Maharashtra on Monday, the Supreme Court-monitored high-power committee on road safety instructed the state government to strictly implement the mandate of helmets for two-wheelers and seat belts for all the passengers in four-wheelers. The directives come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court order last month and accident data which showed that 70% of road accidents involved two-wheelers and pedestrians.

‘Helmets must for 2-wheeler riders, seat belts for all occupants of 4-wheelers’

Subsequent to this, the Maharashtra government issued a circular ordering all municipal corporations in the state to allocate 1% of their annual budget for road safety, traffic discipline and public awareness initiatives as per the SC directions on pedestrian safety. With this, the BMC, which has an annual budget of ₹74,427 crore will have to spend ₹744 crores for road safety initiatives.

The SC-monitored committee, under retired SC judge A M Sapre, is on a five-day Maharashtra visit and met chief secretary Rajesh Kumar on Monday. The committee is visiting states to ensure the implementation of the court order on road safety. The meeting was attended by key officials from the traffic police and transport, public works, school education and rural development departments among others.

The committee stressed the need to strictly implement the SC order given last month. “While highlighting data that 70% of road accidents involve two-wheelers and pedestrians, it told the government to ensure that the mandate of compulsory helmets for two-wheeler riders and pillion riders was implemented in the next six months,” said a Mantralaya official. “Similar enforcement is expected for all four-wheeler occupants. The committee also told the state government that since the issue was being monitored by the SC, lapses in implementation would not be tolerated.”

The officer said that except for Mumbai and parts of MMR, the helmet mandate was not enforced strictly and the helmets-for-pillion-riders rule was not enforced even in these places.

The committee also insisted on action against road contractors responsible for accidents due to faulty structure, design and lacunae in the maintenance of roads. The state government has also been directed to aim at reducing accidents by 35%. As many as 14,565 fatal accidents were registered in the state in 2024, leaving 22,051 people seriously injured, causing 15,715 deaths. In 2025, 10,720 fatal accidents were reported until September 30, resulting in 11,532 deaths.

The state government has directed various departments to undertake certain measures, including an audit of footpaths, zebra crossings and foot over bridges, with priority accorded to areas near schools, religious places and railway stations. The authorities have also been directed to install cameras, GIS mapping and a dedicated online grievance redressal facility to resolve complaints related to encroachments, bad quality of roads and footpaths among other things.

The Supreme Court, in its order of October 7, had directed all state governments to strictly implement the measures to reduce accidents and fatalities. The SC has been monitoring the enforcement by the states, and the committee under Justice Sapre has been appointed for monitoring and coordination with governments.

Accidents on Samruddhi increase, Mumbai-Pune expressway dip

According to data presented by the state government during the meeting, the number of fatal accidents on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway have increased by 38% and fatalities by 16%. The fatal accidents reported on Samruddhi from January to September 2025 were 94 against 68 between January and September 2024. The fatalities increased to 107 from 92 from January-September 2024 to January-September 2025. The 710-km expressway registered 151 and 126 deaths from 81 and 96 fatal accidents in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

On the other hand, fatal accidents on the Mumbai-Pune expressway this year have dipped. The expressway reported 51 deaths from 46 accidents during January-September 2025 against 72 deaths from 57 accidents during January-September 2024.

(With inputs from Saurabha Kulshreshtha)