Mumbai: City witnessed decline in number of deaths caused by BEST buses

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On Thursday, Mumbai police released its annual report on data analysis of road accidents for the years 2018. The annual report was undertaken by the Mumbai police in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety.

As per the data released by the Mumbai Traffic Department, the number of fatal accidents which were recorded from 2015 to 2018, 99 percent of the drivers (Male drivers) were at fault. Whereas in the year 2018, young men, between the age of 20 to 29, made up for the highest number of motorcycle deaths.

Mumbai Traffic Department and Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiatives For Global Road Safety (BIGRS) launched the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report 2018 on September 26, 2019. The annual report comprises an analysis of the fatal road crash incidents that were reported from across the city in the year 2018. According to the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report, drivers leading to fatal accidents comprised of 99 percent of male drivers.

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As per the data, 475 deaths were reported due to fatal accidents in 2018, compared to 611 in 2015. The city witnessed a decrease of 22 percent over the past four years in the number of deaths due to fatal road accidents. Although the number is slightly low compared to the year 2017, where 490 people lost their lives, there was a slight increase in the number of injury crashes and the number of persons injured in 2018.

A total of 3,767 accidents were reported last year, of which 3,292 suffered injuries, while in 2017 it was 3,287. However, the report indicates that there has been an overall decreasing trend since 2015 (4029).

Dr. Sara Whitehead, Public Health and Preventive Medicine Consultant, Vital strategies said, "Road traffic crashes are not accidents, they are preventable, and the information in this report shows where and for whom prevention efforts need to be targeted so that fewer Mumbaikars die on the roads."

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Madhukar Pande, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) said, "The Mumbai traffic branch is working with BIGRS to reduce the number of road crash fatalities and injuries since 2015. The initiative has greatly contributed towards lowering the fatalities."

He further added, "We are now working towards lowering pedestrian fatalities which accounts 51 percent of fatal deaths in accidents."

Here are some important analysis from the Mumbai Road Safety Annual Report 2018:

• The pattern of deaths by gender was similar to the previous years with men accounting for 85 percent of road crash deaths.
• The largest proportion of road crash deaths was among the youth, especially young men aged between 20 and 29 years. Among females, road crash deaths were more or less equally distributed among all age groups.
• Among drivers where the age was known, drivers between the age group of 21 to 25 were most frequently found "at fault."
• The number of deaths caused by buses have decreased substantially over the past four years, from 58 in 2015 to 27 in 2018. This category includes BEST buses, private buses, school buses, and luxury buses.
• As per the data, the city witnessed the highest number of fatal crashes between 8 pm to 9 pm on weekdays, whereas on weekends it was between 2 am to 3 am.
• The study also revealed that the two express highways; the Western and the Eastern express highways remained the highest risk roads of Mumbai. However, the number of fatalities decreased on the Western express highway from 75 in 2017 to 52 in 2018. On the other hand, the city witnessed a drop in the number of fatalities from 53 to 34 on the Eastern express highway.

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The number of deaths caused by buses have decreased substantially over the past four years