This article is the second in a multi-part series examining the condition of the Mumbai–Goa National Highway (NH-66), based on field documentation and Right to Information (RTI) data gathered by engineer and activist Chaitanya Patil, along with representations submitted to authorities.
This part examines what official records reveal about deaths, injuries and accident-prone locations on the Mumbai–Goa National Highway; risks that, for years, have been attributed to an unfortunate combination of bad weather, reckless driving and heavy traffic and, therefore, treated as episodic and unavoidable.
That assumption was tested after engineer and activist Chaitanya Patil, who recently walked the entire length of NH-66 as part of an on-foot highway audit, began filing RTI applications seeking official accident and safety data for the same stretches he had documented on the ground. The police record he received tell a far more specific and troubling story.
Across districts in the Konkan region, accident data accessed by Chaitanya through RTI shows that fatalities and serious injuries on NH-66 are not scattered randomly along the highway. Instead, fatalities and serious injuries are recorded year after year along the same corridor, even as the police identify multiple locations on NH-66 as accident-prone. Many of these locations are the same stretches that Chaitanya flagged during his 490km walk, even as the highway continues to remain under construction, partially opened and repeatedly reworked.
RTI replies from district police authorities, particularly from Raigad and Ratnagiri, make one fact clear: the risks on NH-66 are neither invisible nor undocumented.
A Long Record of Fatal Accidents
Police records shared under RTI provide year-wise data on accidents, deaths and injuries on NH-66 stretching back more than a decade. In Raigad district alone, the data covers the period from 2012 to April 2025 and shows that fatal accidents have been recorded every single year on the highway.
While the total number of accidents fluctuates annually, fatalities and serious injuries persist with disturbing regularity. There is no evidence of a sustained decline that might be expected after years of widening, concretisation and repeated ‘improvement’ works. Instead, the data suggest that the nature of the risk has remained largely unchanged, even as traffic volumes have increased and construction has continued.
Number of injuries and deaths recorded between 2012 and 2025 in the Raigad District of NH 66 (obtained under RTI)
This continuity matters. It challenges the idea that accidents are merely a temporary side effect of infrastructure development. When fatalities continue year after year on the same highway, over more than a decade, the problem can no longer be described as transitional.
Number of injuries and deaths recorded between 2011 and 2025 in the Ratnagiri District of NH 66 (obtained under RTI)
Black Spots That Refuse To Disappear
Perhaps the most significant disclosures in the RTI replies relate to 'black spots,' which are officially designated as accident-prone locations. Under road safety protocols, black spots are stretches where a minimum number of fatal or serious accidents occur within a defined distance over a specified period. Identification is meant to trigger corrective engineering measures.
In Raigad district alone, police have officially identified 33 black spots on NH-66. These include specific junctions, bridges, village access points and ghat sections such as Kharpada Bridge, Kharoshi Phata, Trankhop, Wadkhal–Kasu, Lonere bus stop, Pen Phata to Aangar Ali and Dasgaon, among others.
What is striking is not just the number of black spots identified by the police, but the fact that fatal and serious accidents continue to be recorded year after year on the same highway corridor. RTI responses identify multiple accident-prone locations on NH-66, while separate year-wise accident data shows that deaths and injuries persist over time, even as construction and remedial measures remain incomplete.
In many cases, police responses note that temporary measures, such as caution boards, barricades or speed advisories, have been implemented. However, there is little indication of durable engineering corrections, such as redesigned junctions, completed service roads, proper drainage or permanent traffic-calming measures.
Construction That Compounds Risk
RTI data does not classify accidents by cause or road condition. However, when the locations identified by police as accident-prone are viewed alongside the stretches documented during Chaitanya’s on-foot highway inspection, a clear pattern emerges. Many of the locations flagged by him during the 490-km walk, particularly near incomplete bridges, diversion roads and partially opened flyovers, also fall within sections of the highway that feature repeatedly in accident records. While the police data records the outcomes of these accidents, Chaitanya’s field observations help explain the conditions under which they occur.
NH-66 has been under widening and upgradation for years, with traffic frequently diverted onto temporary alignments. During his walk, Chaitanya documented several such diversions that have remained in use far longer than intended, often without resurfacing, proper drainage or consistent signage. Over time, these temporary arrangements have deteriorated, increasing risk, especially during the monsoon.
Taken together, the official accident data and the on-ground documentation suggest that prolonged construction, when combined with inadequate safety management, has turned certain unfinished stretches into recurring risk zones for highway users.
RTI data does not provide a vehicle-wise or user-category breakup of accidents on NH-66. What it does show, however, is that fatal and serious accidents continue to be recorded year after year across the corridor.
To understand the conditions under which these accidents occur, the accident data needs to be read alongside the on-ground observations documented during Chaitanya Patil’s 490-km walk. His field notes record unfinished service roads, missing pedestrian infrastructure and prolonged diversions near inhabited areas—conditions that increase risk for all road users, particularly in the absence of clear segregation between local and through traffic.
Enforcement without Engineering
RTI replies also provide detailed enforcement data, indicating sustained policing activity on NH-66. In Raigad district alone, traffic police issued 20,804 challans in 2022, 27,566 in 2023 and 31,749 challans in 2024 for offences categorised under ‘danger head’ violations.
These include riding without helmets, not wearing seatbelts, triple riding, drunk driving and the use of mobile phones while driving. The year-on-year increase in challans suggests that enforcement efforts have intensified along the highway.
At the same time, RTI accident data shows that fatal and serious accidents have continued to be recorded across the NH-66 corridor. The police records identify multiple accident-prone locations, even as enforcement activity remains high.
Read alongside the on-ground documentation from Chaitanya Patil’s on-foot highway inspection, this contrast underscores a key limitation of enforcement-led approaches to road safety. While policing addresses individual violations, the persistence of accidents points to underlying risks linked to road design, prolonged construction and incomplete safety infrastructure—issues that enforcement alone is not designed to resolve.
Taken together, RTI data paints a consistent picture. The most dangerous locations on NH-66 are not unknown. They are officially identified, documented in police records and regularly patrolled. Accident data, black-spot registers and enforcement records all point to the same stretches of road.
The problem, therefore, is not a lack of information or awareness. It is the absence of timely and durable corrective action at locations already acknowledged as hazardous.
In Part 3, we examine the 59 categories of hazards identified during the on-foot highway audit and the specific, standards-based solutions proposed—many of which directly address the risks that police data has been highlighting for years.
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