In spite of the lockdown and vehicle use permitted for only essential services and goods, Mumbai has witnessed at least one accident every day in April, State Highway Police data has revealed. Mumbai also topped among cities in the state, recording a maximum number of accidents — 40 — in the month, it stated. A total of 11 people lost their lives and 35 sustained injuries in the accidents. Last year, 250 accidents and 40 fatalities were recorded in April. Superintendent of Police (State Highways) Vijay Patil said, “While heavy vehicles transporting goods have been allowed, personal vehicles were only allowed when used for essential services. In spite of this, cities like Mumbai have reported accidents. There were a few instances where those killed were migrants.” In three of the accidents reported from Virar, Malegaon and Shirpur since the lockdown, the deceased included eight migrants headed to their home towns, police said. Meanwhile, an 18-year-old son of a Mumbai hotelier died, while his friend sustained serious injuries after their car crashed into a stationary bus at Marine Drive on May 13. Six hours from the accident, a garage owner in Andheri was killed when his Jaguar rammed into parked cars. According to the data for April, Mumbai was followed by Ahmednagar with 35 accidents (23 fatalities) and Dhule with 32 cases (14 fatalities). “A majority of the accidents on the highways have been related to heavy vehicles, while in cities there have been four-wheeler accidents as people went on drives, flouting prohibitory orders,” a police officer said. In April last year, a total of 2,760 accidents were reported in Maharashtra that caused 1,120 deaths, while 576 accidents led to 300 deaths in the month this year.
