Fatalities due to road accidents

#GS-02 Healthcare

Road accident deaths in India:

As per Road Transport Ministry’s annual Road Accidents in India-2021 report, road accident deaths increased by 9% in 2021 from the 2019 figure.
A total of 4,12,432 road accidents were reported in the country in 2021 which resulted in 1,53,972
These numbers mean an average of 1,130 accidents and 422 deaths every day or 47 accidents and 18 deaths every hour.

Young adults who are in the 18-45 age group accounted for about 6% of victims during 2021.
People who are in the working age group of 18-60 made up 5% of total road accident fatalities.
Those who are under 18 totalled 5% of all road accident deaths, and those above 60 accounted for 6%.

Road accident severity means the number of persons killed per 100 accidents.
Road accident severity increased to 37.3 in 2021 from 33.7 in 2019.

The highest number of fatalities was due to being “hit from behind” as the cause of accidents, which accounted for 6% of the total road accident deaths.
The second largest cause of death was due to “head-on collision”, which contributed to 7% of the total deaths.
Some of the other major types of collision which caused deaths were “hit and run” (8%), and “hit from side” (11.9%).
Of deaths due to violation of traffic rules, speeding was the largest cause of death, accounting for 6% of the fatalities.
Driving on the wrong side of the road is the second largest cause of deaths at 2%.
Other major traffic violations which caused deaths were use of mobile phones which contributed to 9% of the total road fatalities.
Jumping traffic signal lights contributed to 5% of the total road fatalities.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for the largest share of fatalities at 8%, followed by Tamil Nadu (10%), Maharashtra (8.8%), Madhya Pradesh (7.8%), and Rajasthan (6.5%).
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have seen a rise in their share of fatalities from the 2019 figure.