Maharashtra's Alarming Road Fatalities: A Persistent Crisis

Maharashtra has witnessed 95,722 road fatalities between 2019 and 2025, highlighting a severe issue. The state recorded 26,922 accidents and 11,532 deaths in the first three-quarters of 2025. Major factors include weak enforcement, reckless driving, and overloaded vehicles, despite efforts to curb the trend.

A grim picture of road safety emerges from Maharashtra, where an alarming 95,722 people have died in road accidents between January 2019 and September 2025, according to official data. This persistent problem shows no signs of alleviating, as statistics sourced from the Maharashtra transport department reveal.

In the first three quarters of 2025 alone, the state recorded 26,922 road accidents and 11,532 fatalities, marking a slight rise from 26,719 accidents and 11,573 deaths during the same period last year. In one particularly fatal incident, eight people died when a car was crushed between two container trucks on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway, igniting a massive inferno.

India's national road accident toll reached 1,72,890 deaths in 2023, with Maharashtra ranking third after Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Experts attribute the high road death rate to weak enforcement, inadequate driver training, collision-prone roads, and overloaded vehicles. Efforts to reduce fatalities continue, but with mixed results as the numbers steadily climb post-pandemic.

(With inputs from agencies.)