475 Mumbaikars died in road mishaps in 2018: Report

As many as 475 people, half of them pedestrians, lost their lives in "preventable" road mishaps in Mumbai in 2018, representing a 22 per cent decline in fatalities since 2015, according to a report by the traffic police department.

The largest proportion of deaths was among young men aged between 20-29 years. Also, road crash deaths were more or less equally distributed among all female victims, according to the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report 2018.

The report comprises an analysis of the 2018 road crash death and injury data collected by the Mumbai Traffic Control Branch.

According to it, 475 Mumbaikars lost their lives in 2018 in road crashes which were "preventable". This represents a 22 per cent decline in road crash fatalities in the metropolis since 2015.

Pedestrians accounted for 51 per cent of the total deaths in 2018 and most of them were aged between 35-60 years. They were most commonly killed by car, van and motorcycle drivers, it said.

According to the report, the highest number of deaths occurred in the eastern region (138) of Mumbai followed by the central region (102).

The road deaths on the Western Express Highway reduced from 75 in 2017 to 52 in 2018 and on the Eastern Express Highway from 53 in 2017 to 34 in 2018, it said.

These two stretches continued to be the highest risk locations in the financial capital, the report said.

There has also been a declining trend in the road crash injuries since 2015, said the report brought out by the Mumbai Traffic Control Branch in collaboration with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).

"The Mumbai Traffic Control Branch has worked in partnership with the BIGRS to reduce the number of road crash fatalities and injuries since 2015.

"The initiative has contributed greatly to the crash monitoring system in the city, Madhukar Pandey, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said on Thursday.

The highest road crash deaths and injuries in Mumbai occurred between Thursday and Sunday between 8 to 9 pm, it said.

The deaths caused by buses, including vehicles of civic transport undertaking BEST and luxury buses, reduced by over 50 per cent from 2015 to 2018, the report said.

Vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, motorcycle riders and cyclists, made up for 93 per cent of the total deaths in 2018. This group also accounted for 84 per cent of the road crash injuries last year, it said.

Motorcyclists, a large number of them men, were commonly killed in collision with other motorbikes and most of the victims were aged between 20-29, it said.

Males accounted for 85 per cent of the road crash deaths in 2018. Male drivers were found at fault in most fatal crashes over the past four years (2015-2018), the report added.