Wrong-side driving continues to be a major road safety hazard in Maharashtra, with 460 people killed in 1,262 accidents in 2025, according to state road accident data. Police say motorists taking dangerous shortcuts, often to avoid longer detours, remain one of the biggest causes of fatal head-on collisions on highways.
The latest figures come weeks after two major crashes underscored the risks of driving against the flow of traffic.
On May 18, thirteen people, including four women, were killed and over 30 were injured after a tempo carrying nearly 50 people to an engagement ceremony collided head-on with a container trailer on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway in Palghar’s Dahanu taluka. Police said the tempo driver had entered the wrong carriageway near Dhanivari village to avoid travelling an additional 1.5 km.
On May 24, six people were killed and 26 injured in Dhule after a sand-laden dumper travelling on the wrong side of the Mumbai-Agra Highway rammed a truck near Laling Ghat. As police and toll staff were clearing the wreckage, an Indore-bound private bus crashed into the stranded truck, triggering a second collision.
Senior police officers said wrong-side driving remains one of the deadliest traffic violations because it frequently results in high-speed head-on collisions
“A major reason for motorists driving on the wrong side is the lack of adequate service roads. Villages located along highways often require commuters to travel longer distances to use an underpass or authorised U-turn. Many choose to take the shorter but dangerous route by driving against the flow of traffic,” a senior IPS officer said.
Police said highway patrol teams routinely crack down on wrong-side driving and overspeeding, but stressed that enforcement alone cannot address the problem.
Another senior Highway Police officer said road owning agencies, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), Public Works Department (PWD) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), need to examine highway design, traffic patterns and engineering deficiencies at accident-prone locations.
“Every fatal crash needs to be analysed to determine whether poor road engineering, inadequate service roads, unsafe junctions or traffic management failures contributed to the accident. Infrastructure improvements are as important as enforcement,” the officer said.
District-level Road Safety Committees headed by collectors are also studying accident patterns to identify recurring causes such as faulty road design, overspeeding and inadequate safety measures.
Police clarified that wrong-side movement is permitted only under controlled conditions, such as during road construction or traffic diversions, where barricades, speed restrictions and traffic personnel are deployed.
Wrong-side crashes remain a persistent threat
Data from the past five years show that wrong-side driving continues to claim hundreds of lives despite year-to-year fluctuations.
Fatalities nearly doubled from 376 deaths in 808 accidents in 2021 to 730 deaths in 1,448 accidents in 2022, the highest recorded during the period. The numbers subsequently declined to 425 deaths in 1,077 accidents in 2023 and 347 deaths in 750 accidents in 2024 before rising again this year to 460 deaths in 1,262 crashes.
Police said the figures highlight the persistent threat posed by motorists driving against traffic.
Road deaths at five-year high
The state recorded 16,431 road deaths in 2025, comprising 13,991 men, 2,039 women and 401 children, the highest in the past five years, compared with 13,528 deaths in 2021.
Fatal road accidents also increased from 12,554 in 2021 to 14,853 in 2025.
Two-wheeler riders remained the most vulnerable road users, accounting for 9,071 deaths in 19,211 accidents during 2025. Accidents involving cars, taxis, vans and other light motor vehicles claimed another 1,532 lives in 4,344 crashes.
Wrong-side driving violations on the rise
Traffic enforcement data between January 2022 and May 2026 show a sharp increase in cases of wrong-side driving even as overspeeding violations have declined.
Authorities issued 51.66 lakh challans for overspeeding during the period, compared with 3.12 lakh challans for wrong-side driving.
Overspeeding challans fell from 14.60 lakh in 2022 to 9.52 lakh in 2025, with 5.89 lakh issued during the first five months of 2026.
Wrong-side driving violations, however, rose from 21,264 in 2022 to 71,218 in 2023, remained at 69,344 in 2024, and climbed to 98,005 in 2025. This year, till May 31, it has already reached 52,422.
“The increase in wrong-side driving violations shows that motorists continue to ignore one of the most important traffic rules. Driving against the flow of traffic puts not only the offender but every other road user at risk,” a police officer said.
The police said the bus was completely gutted by the time firefighters arrived at the scene. (Representational image) 
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