New Delhi: India recorded over 4.8 lakh road accidents in 2023, marking the third straight year of increase. National Highways, though making up just 2.1 percent of the country’s total road length, accounted for 31.2 percent of these accidents.
According to the “Road Accidents in India 2023” report released by the Road Transport Ministry Thursday, Tamil Nadu recorded 67,213 road accidents (13.9 percent of all such cases nationwide), marking its sixth straight year at the top of the list.
It was followed by Madhya Pradesh (11.5 percent), Kerala (10 percent) and Uttar Pradesh (9.3 percent).
However, in terms of fatalities, Uttar Pradesh leads with 23,652 deaths (or 13.7 percent). It was followed by Tamil Nadu (10.6 percent), Maharashtra (8.9 percent), and Madhya Pradesh (8 percent).
Accordingly, Uttar Pradesh recorded a high accident severity—which measures persons killed per 100 accidents—of 53.1, while Tamil Nadu was at 27.3. The all India average is 36.
The top five states in terms of accident severity are Mizoram (90.6), Bihar (80.6), Jharkhand (78.5), Punjab (77) and Meghalaya (75.3).
The report also provides details for road accidents in 50 cities with a population of 1 million and above. National capital Delhi tops the charts in terms of accidents and fatalities at 5,834 and 1,457 respectively. It is followed by Bengaluru with 4,974 accidents and 915 fatalities.
As per the report released Thursday, overall road accidents went up for the third consecutive year in 2023 to reach 4,80,583 (4.2 percent rise from 2022). The number of fatalities increased by 2.6 percent from 2022 to stand at 1,72,890.
As per the report, 70,593 or 40.8 percent of total fatalities occurred due to negligence of passengers or drivers for not wearing helmets and seat belts.
For the fourth consecutive year in 2023, the victims of fatal road accidents largely constitute young people in the productive age groups.
“Young adults in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for 66.4% of victims during 2023. People in the working age group of 18–60 years share 83.4% of total road accident fatalities,” according to the report.
Among road categories, National Highways (NH) which constitute only 2.1 percent of total road length saw 1,50,177 (31.2 percent of total) accidents and 63,112 (36.5 percent of total) fatalities.
While state highways, which are 2.8 percent of total road length, accounted for 22 percent of total accidents and 22.8 percent of total fatalities.
The ‘other’ category (95.1 percent of total road length) comprising district roads, rural roads, urban roads and project roads registered 46.8 percent of total accidents and 40.7 percent of total fatalities.
The accidents and fatalities both grew, by 10.9 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, from the previous year in the “other road” category.
Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, for the third consecutive year, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share in total accidents with 46.5 percent while fatalities stood at 44.8 percent share during 2023.
The data suggests the problem is more acute in rural areas than urban. In 2023, about 68.5 percent of the road accidents deaths took place in rural areas whereas urban areas accounted for 31.5 percent.
The report provides road accident statistics for 50 cities spread across 17 states and two union territories that have a population of 1 million or more.
In total, these cities witnessed 81,144 accidents (16.9 percent) and 17,255 fatalities (10 percent share) in 2023. On an overall basis, accidents grew by 5.7 percent and fatalities by 0.97 percent.
As per the category of traffic rule violations in million plus population cities, over-speeding caused 63.7 percent of accidents and 60.8 percent of fatalities. The next biggest traffic violation was driving on the wrong side.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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