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Road accidents killed 3 people every 10 minutes in 2015, says report

There were nine road accidents that killed three people every 10 minutes in 2015, according to new national data, an increase of 9% over four years.

IndiaSpend|Jan 09, 2017, 10:57:27 IST

By Swagata YadavarThere were nine road accidents that killed three people every 10 minutes in 2015, according to new national data, an increase of nine percent over four years.Road accidents killed 148,000 people in 2015 compared to 136,000 in 2011, according to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Road accidents accounted for 83 percent of all traffic-related deaths in India and 43 percent of all accidental deaths in 2015. Other traffic-related deaths were from railway accidents (15 percent) and accidents at railway crossings (two percent).

Source: National Crime Records BureauThere were 464,000 road accidents in 2015, an increase of 3 percent from 2014, when there were 450,000 road accidents.[caption id="attachment_3180750" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representative image. PTI[/caption]While Tamil Nadu (69,059), Karnataka (44,011) and Maharashtra (42,250) reported the most road accidents, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of deaths in road accidents (18,407).The road transport sector contributes to 4.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), but India loses one-three percent of GDP due to road accidents, according to this 2007 report of the road transport working group of the erstwhile Planning Commission for the XIth Plan.Despite a national road safety strategy and laws on speed limits, wearing helmets and seat belts and drunk-driving, the World Health Organization rates India’s enforcement as three out of 10 on speed limits, four out of 10 on wearing motorcycle helmet, 4 out of 10 on drunk-driving and 4 out of 10 on wearing seat belts.Two-wheeler riders are most at riskTwo-wheeler accidents accounted for 29% of all fatal road accidents in 2015, claiming 45,540 lives, followed by trucks (19 percent), which killed 28,910 people and cars (12 percent), which killed 18,506 people.

Source: National Crime Records BureauTamil Nadu (3,668) and Maharashtra (3,146) reported the largest number of people killed in two-wheeler accidents, while Uttar Pradesh had reported the largest number of lives lost due to truck accidents (5,720) and car accidents (2,135).More pedestrians were killed in Maharashtra (1,256) than any other state, accounting for 17 percent of pedestrian deaths.National highways, India’s most dangerous roadsAlthough national highways account for only 1.51 percent of India’s road length, they accounted for 28 percent of road accidents and 33% of road-mishap deaths nationwide in 2015.State highways, three percent of India’s road length, contributed to 25 percent of road accidents and 28 percent of deaths due to road mishaps. IndiaSpend-Logo114

Over-speeding most common cause of fatal road accidentsOver-speeding was responsible for 41% of death in road accidents, while careless or dangerous driving claimed 32% of death in road accidents. Poor weather (four percent) and mechanical defects (three percent) in motor vehicles were other causes for deaths in road accidents.

Source: National Crime Records BureauTamil Nadu and Maharashtra had the most number of casualties due to over-speeding, with 15 percent and 12 percent of cases, respectively.Uttar Pradesh had the largest number of deaths due to careless/dangerous driving (17 percent), followed by Maharashtra (nine percent).Chennai has maximum accidents, Delhi deadliestChennai accounted for nine percent of all road accidents in 53 cities, followed by Delhi (nine percent) and Bengaluru (six percent).Delhi (eight percent) and Jaipur (five percent) had the largest number of deaths in road accidents, among 53 cities.

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