Maha: Driver killed as his container hits another vehicle in Thane

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The driver of a container was killed in a road accident in Maharashtra's Thane city in the wee hours of Saturday, a civic official said. The accident occurred at Patlipada on Ghodbunder Road around 2.15 am, when his vehicle rammed into another container from behind, he said.

"The container transporting 10 tonnes of clothes from Rajasthan to Nhava Sheva in Raigad district rammed into another container moving ahead of it and carrying 18 tonnes of solar panels from Gujarat to Nhava Sheva. Due to this, the driver of the container from Rajasthan was killed," chief of the Thane civic body's disaster management cell, Yasin Tadvi, said.

The deceased driver has been identified as Majid Khan, 40 years old. His body was pulled out of the mangled remains of the driver's cabin, he said. The body was sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, he added. Due to the accident, traffic on the busy highway was affected for two hours, the official said.

Meanwhile, a comparison of road accident numbers in Thane and Navi Mumbai with Mumbai over the last few years shows that the number of accidents in Thane and Navi Mumbai seems to be increasing, while the number of accidents in Mumbai has decreased. However, the death rate in Mumbai has remained high.

According to official statistics released by the RTO, there were 855 road accidents in Mumbai city between January and May 2022, with 175 deaths and 755 injuries. In the same period of 2023, the number of road accidents decreased to 439, but the number of deaths remained high at 113, with 402 injuries. This suggests that the number of accidents involving large passenger vehicles, such as buses and station wagons, has increased.

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In Navi Mumbai and Thane, however, the number of accidents has been steadily increasing. In Navi Mumbai, there were 299 accidents between January and May 2022, and this number has increased to 321 for the same period in 2023. In 2022, there were 123 deaths and 233 injuries in Navi Mumbai's 299 accidents. In 2023, the number of accidents has decreased to 92, but the number of injuries has increased to 261.

In Thane city, the number of accidents in January-May 2022 was 359, and this number has increased to 381 in 2023. The number of deaths in accidents in January-May 2022 was 94, with 318 injured. In January-May 2023, the number of deaths decreased to 88, but the number of injured has increased to 343.

Experts attribute the increase in accidents in Navi Mumbai and Thane to the lack of proper public transportation. "Everyone works in Mumbai and stays in Navi Mumbai and Thane. The trains are crowded, the bus services are limited and irrational, and everyone is in a two-wheeler leading to more traffic, indiscipline, and accidents," said commuter Ranjeet Munshi.

"For road accidents and highways, the government needs to set up a high-powered committee which should include citizen representatives to review the situation and suggest remedial actions," said transport expert AV Shenoy. (With inputs from PTI)