Maha recorded 15,224 deaths in road accidents last year

A total of 15,224 people died in 33,383 road accidents in Maharashtra last year, a 13% rise compared to 2021, with two-wheeler and three-wheeler occupants accounting for 54% of the deaths. The report also highlighted behavioral risks such as speeding, drunk driving, and lack of helmet and seatbelt use as the main causes of accidents. Additionally, the majority of the fatalities occurred between 6 pm and 9 pm.

A total of 15,224 people died in 33,383 road accidents in the state last year, a 13% rise in deaths compared to 13,538 fatalities recorded in 2021, said a report released by the Maharashtra highway traffic police on Friday.

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The fatality figure is also the highest in the last five years, since 2018. Two-wheeler and three-wheeler occupants accounted for 54% of the deaths registered in 2022, followed by pedestrians at 19%, the report said and added that 27,239 people suffered injuries.

Of the 33,383 accidents, 9,418 occurred on the national highways while state highways registered 6,902 mishaps.

According to the highway traffic police, 10 districts accounted for 41% of the fatalities. They are Pune Rural (923), Nashik Rural (912), Ahmednagar (841), Solapur Rural (641), Jalgaon (552), Satara (534), Nagpur Rural (492), Beed (462), Aurangabad Rural (457) and Chandrapur (434). Ratnagiri recorded a 44% increase in fatalities followed by Buldhana at 39% and Aurangabad at 29% compared to the statistics of 2021.

Most of the accidents across the 342,202 kilometres of road network were caused by various behavioural risks of motorists such as speeding, drunk driving, incorrect or no helmet use, no seatbelt use, and no child restraints, the report pointed out.

The report further said most of the men who died in accidents were between 25 and 45 years while women in the 25-60 age bracket accounted for most of the fatalities. While 3,898 men in the 25-35 age group lost their lives in 2022 the number of victims between 35 and 45 years stood at 3,584.

The highest number of mishaps was recorded between April and June and an in-depth investigation to find out the reason had been initiated, the report said. It also stated that most of the road accidents which resulted in deaths occurred between 6 pm and 9 pm.