Wrong Side Driving Caused The 2nd Most Deaths On National Highways After Overspeeding In 2019

Over-speeding led to a maximum number of road crashes and deaths in India in 2019, revealed the annual road accident report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

According to the report released by the ministry's Transport Research Wing, 1,51,113 people were killed, and 4,51,361 persons were injured in 4,49,002 road crashes in India in 2019.

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The data also showed that wrong-side driving on roads claimed has 9,200 lives in 2019 with more than one-fourth of such fatalities (2,726) occurring on the National Highways.

This was followed by driving under the influence of alcohol. A total of 2,376 persons were killed in drunk driving cases on NHs in 2019.

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Overloaded vehicles accounted for about 10 per cent deaths and 8 percent of total crashes. About 69,621 (15.5 per cent) cases were registered as 'Hit and Run' which caused 29,354 deaths (19.4 percent) and 61,751 injuries (13.7 per cent). Compared to 2018, hit and run cases increased by 1.5 per cent and deaths due to hit and run increased by 0.5 per cent.

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Driving without a valid license or with a learners license accounted for 15 per cent of total crashes. There was a 6.2 per cent increase in road crash deaths due to potholes, with 2,140 deaths in 2019.

Vehicles, more than 10 years, accounted for 41 per cent of accident related deaths. The share of the number of persons killed in urban and rural areas was 32.9 per cent and 67.1 per cent respectively.

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The number of pedestrians killed in road crashes increased from 22,656 in 2018, to 25,858 in 2019 i.e., increase of about 14.13 per cent. Together, two wheelers and pedestrians accounted for 54 per cent of the accident related killings and are the most vulnerable category, keeping in line with global trends.

Across states, most road accidents were reported in Tamil Nadu (57,228), followed by Madhya Pradesh (50,669), Uttar Pradesh (42,572), Kerala (41,111) and Karnataka (40,658) accidents.

Maharashtra ranked sixth with 32,295 accidents, but saw the second-highest number of fatalities (12,788), after 22,655 in Uttar Pradesh.

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Among cities, Delhi retained its first rank with 1,463 deaths, followed by Jaipur (1,283), Chennai (1,252) Bengaluru (768) while Mumbai was ranked ninth with 447 deaths.

¡°Highways (both national and state), which accounted for about 5% of the total road network, witnessed a disproportionately large share of accidents of 55% and accident-related fatalities during 2019. More accidents on these have been attributed to higher vehicle speeds and increasingly higher volume of traffic on these roads,¡± the report said.

India has, however, witnessed reduction in road crash fatalities after the enactment of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act in 2019, the ministry said.