New Delhi: The number of road accidents in India went up by an alarming 12 percent to over 4.6 lakh in 2022, resulting in death of 19 persons every hour, according to a report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
The report showed that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.
“A total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by states and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2022, which claimed 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 persons.
“This marks an increase of 11.9 percent in accidents, 9.4 percent in fatalities, and 15.3 percent in injuries compared to the previous year,” the report titled ‘Road accidents in India — 2022’ said.
As per the report, for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, the fatal road accident victims largely constituted young people in the productive age groups.
“Young adults in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for 66.5 percent of victims during 2022,” the report said, adding that people in the working age group of 18–60 years constitute 83.4 percent of total road accident fatalities.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has set a target to reduce the number of accidents in the country and the resulting deaths by half by 2024.
In 2022, total 1,68,491 road accident fatalities were reported by states/UTs which is higher than the 2021 reported figure of 1,53,972.
As per the report, during 2022, a total of 4,61,312 accidents were recorded in the country, of which, 1,51,997 (32.9 percent ) took place on National Highways (NH), including expressways, 1,06,682 (23.1 percent ) on state highways and the remaining 2,02,633 (43.9 percent) on other roads.
“Out of the total of 1,68,491 fatalities reported in 2022, 61,038 (36.2 percent) were on national highways, 41,012 (24.3 percent) were on state highways and 66,441 (39.4 percent) were on other roads,” it added.
Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, two-wheelers for the second consecutive year, accounted for the highest share in total accidents and fatalities during 2022.
The report said light vehicles comprising cars, jeeps and taxis together came at distant second.
In terms of road-user categories, it said the share of two-wheeler riders in total fatality was the highest (44.5 percent) during 2022 followed the pedestrian road-users with 19.5 percent of persons killed in road accidents.
Amongst states, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on National Highways in 2022, whereas, the number of persons killed in road accident was the highest in Uttar Pradesh.
“Tamil Nadu with 64,105 accidents (13.9 percent) recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2022 followed by Madhya Pradesh (54,432 i.e.,11.8 percent).
“Uttar Pradesh (22,595 i.e., 13.4 percent) topped the states in respect of the number of fatalities due to road accidents followed by Tamil Nadu (17,884 i.e., 10.6 percent),” it said.
In 2022, under the category of traffic rule violations, over speeding was a major killer, accounting for 71.2 percent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side (5.4 percent).
The report showed that 47.7 percent of accidents, 55.1 percent of deaths and 48.2 percent of injuries occurred in open areas, i.e.,locations which normally do not have any human activities in the vicinity.
Under the road feature category, 67 percent of accidents took place on straight roads, whereas accidents on curved roads, pothole roads and steep grades together accounted for only 13.8 percent of the total road accidents in 2022.
As per the report, the total number of fatal road accidents increased from 1,42,163 in 2021 to 1,55,781 in 2022, registering an increase of 9.6 percent corresponding to the same period last year.
An accident, which results in the death of one or more people, is a fatal accident.
‘Hit from Back’ accounted for the largest share in total accidents deaths (19.5 percent) in 2022 ,followed by ‘Hit and Run’ and ‘Head on Collision’ which accounted for 18.1 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively.
‘Hit from Back’ accounted for the largest share in total accidents (21.4 percent), followed by ‘Head on Collision’ and ‘others’ which account for 16.9 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
The annual report is based on the data/information received from police departments of states/UTs on a calendar year basis in standardised formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project.
Not wearing seat belts claimed 16,715 lives in road accidents in 2022: MoRTH
As many as 16,715 people were killed in road accidents in 2022 because of not wearing seat belts, according to a report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
Of the casualties, 8,384 were drivers while the remaining 8,331 were passengers, according to the report titled ‘Road accidents in India — 2022′.
A total of 4,61,312 road accidents occurred in 2022, claiming 1,68,491 lives and leaving 4,43,366 people injured.
In the year under review, 50,029 people lost their lives in accidents when they were not wearing helmets, the report said, adding that of them 35,692, or 71.3 percent, were riding the two-wheeler.
Non-usage of safety devices such as helmets and seat belts are critical for averting fatal and grievous injuries in the event of road accidents. Helmets are mandatory for all motorists riding two-wheelers, barring few exemptions.
According to the report, during 2022, “over speeding” accounted for 72.3 percent of the road accidents, 71.2 percent of the deaths and 72.8 percent of total injuries.
The number of accidents, fatalities and injuries due to “over speeding” increased 12.8 percent, 11.8 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, in 2022 as compared with 2021, it said.
The report revealed that driving on the wrong side was the second highest cause of the road accidents in 2022.
From the perspective of road safety strategy, violations such as overspeeding and driving on the wrong side do not constitute human error alone but it may be due to lack of education and enforcement, the report observed.
Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, jumping of red light and use of mobile phones taken together accounted for 7.4 percent of total accidents and 8.3 percent of total deaths, the report said.
The other category, including reasons like road environment, vehicular condition among others, accounted for 18.2 percent of the accidents, 18.1 percent of fatalities and 18.1 percent of injuries.
As per the report, in 2022, road accidents involving drivers with learners’ licence and without valid licence together constituted 11.8 percent of the total number of mishaps.
The number of accidents involving drivers without a valid driving licence reduced from 37,182 in 2021 to 35,925 in 2022, as per the report.
The annual report is based on data and information received from police departments of states/Union Territories on a calendar year basis in standardised formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project.
