Road Accidents Led To More Than 1.5 Lakh Deaths In India In 2019, Highest In The World

India continues to be in an unenviable position when it comes to road accidents deaths in the world. According to report released by the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, 11 per cent of the total 13.5 lakh casualties on roads globally in 2019 took place in India. In all, 1,51,113 lives were lost on Indian roads in 2019, which makes it the highest in the world by a big margin. At the second spot is China where 63,093 lives were lost in a similar manner while 37,461 people died in road accidents in the US in 2019, putting it at third spot. However, when it comes to road accident deaths per lakh of population, India is in the fourth place behind Iran, Russia and China in that order.

Over speeding continued to be a major killer in 2019, accounting for 67 % of the total deaths.

In the year 2018, a total of 4,67,044 accidents on Indian roads had resulted in 1,51,417 deaths, which means number in 2019 has seen a slight drop of 0.20 %. With 1,463 deaths, the national capital has retained its first rank followed by Jaipur, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kanpur. Talking about states, Uttar Pradesh saw 22,655 people losing their lives in road accidents in 2019, giving it a 15 per cent share in overall numbers. The second and third spots were taken by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu respectively.

35.7 % of total road accident deaths were reported on national highways.

Under the category of traffic rule violations, over speeding continued to be a major killer even in 2019, accounting for 67 per cent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side of the road which accounted for 6 per cent of the accident related deaths. National Highways which comprise of 2.03 percent of total road network, continued to account for a disproportionate share of 35.7 per cent of deaths. State Highways which account for 3.01 per cent of the road length accounted for 24.8 per cent deaths.

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The total number of road accidents in the country decreased by 3.86 per cent in 2019. According to the ministry, this decline appears to have been a result of the Motor Vehicle Act implemented in states from September 2019 which focused on road safety and included a stiff hike in penalties for traffic violations as well as electronic enforcement.