A brief study of Road accidents in India with data analysis!
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of deaths due to road accidents and Chennai is at the top in preventing deaths!
According to a report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Union Government, it has revealed shocking information that 19 deaths occur every hour and 462 deaths every day in road accidents alone in India. With this, India ranks first among the top 20 countries that cause the highest number of deaths in road accidents.
So to find out the reality of this, we analyzed the number of road accidents state-wise and union territory-wise.
Tamil Nadu has the highest number of road accidents:
According to a report released by the Union Ministry, 4,61,312 road accidents occurred in India in 2022 alone. The number of people injured in these road accidents in India is 4,43,366 and the number of deaths is 1,68,491. It can be seen that this number has increased by 11.9 percent compared to previous years.
In terms of these numbers in 2022, Tamil Nadu tops the list of states with the highest number of road accidents in India with 64,105. Of this, Madhya Pradesh is at the second position with 54,432 numbers in 2022 and Kerala is at the third position with 43,910 numbers.
Further analysis of the overall data on Tamil Nadu revealed that Tamil Nadu has been at the top for more than ten consecutive years since 2012.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of deaths due to road accidents:
Following this, an analysis of the number of road accident fatalities revealed that Uttar Pradesh topped the list followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. Gujarat was at the bottom (10th position) with a share of 3.5 percent. The top Ten States together accounted for more than 73.1 percent of accident fatalities in NH.
Comparison among the North Eastern States:
With some marginal fluctuations, the percentage share of North Eastern States in total fatalities had been constant during the last five years. Among the North Eastern States, Assam recorded the highest number of fatalities from 2018 to 2022.
Comparison among the Union Territories:
Union Territories presently account for nearly 1.5 percent of the total road accident deaths in the country. Among the Union Territories, the NCT of Delhi recorded the highest number of fatalities from 2018 to 2022, followed by Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry.
TOP 10 MILLION PLUS CITIES IN ACCIDENTS DURING 2022:
Delhi has recorded the highest number of accidents in 2022 followed by Indore and Jabalpur being at third place. Delhi is in first place with 5,652 (7.36 %) and Indore is in second place with 4,680 (6.10 %). The top 10 cities comprising Delhi, Indore, Jabalpur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Bhopal, Mallapuram, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Kochi accounted for 46.37 percent of the total road accidents of 50 million plus cities. At the bottom rank in accidents are Dhanbad, Jamshedpur, and Amritsar.
Chennai tops in preventing road accidents:
According to the report, in 2021, Chennai had 5,034 accidents, and in 2022, it has decreased to 3,452 by 1582 making it to top the reduction list. It is followed by Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Patna and Surat. It is also noted that Chennai city has reduced road accidents by 31.4%.
Likewise, the number of fatalities in road accidents in Chennai has also decreased. In 2021, 998 people died in road accidents, which decreased to 507 in 2022. Thus, Chennai city ranks first in preventing death in road accidents. This is followed by Ghaziabad and Ludhiana.
Mizoram tops and followed by Bihar and Punjab in the average of serious accidents:
The severity of road accidents is calculated as the average number of fatalities per hundred accidents had slightly decreased to 36.5 in 2022 from 37.3 in 2021. According to Mizoram, for every 100 accidents, up to 85 people die. This is followed by Bihar (82.4) and Punjab (77.5) in 2022. About 60 percent of States recorded accident severity higher than the national average of 36.5.
What are the main causes of road accidents?
Drunken driving is widely believed to be the main cause of road accidents among the public. So after studying this, it was confirmed that according to 2022 data, more road accidents are caused by driving at high speed.
In 2022 alone, 3,33,323 road accidents and 1,19,904 deaths were caused by speeding. Through this, it is known that 72.3 percent of the total road accidents are due to excessive speeding.
Also, it can be learned from this report that ‘drunken driving’ is responsible for 2.2 percent of road accidents, ‘driving in the wrong lane’ is responsible for 4.9 percent of road accidents, ‘using cell phones while driving’ is responsible for 1.6 percent of road accidents, and ‘other causes’ are responsible for 18.2 percent of road accidents.
Uttar Pradesh ranks first among the states with the highest number of road accidents and deaths due to drunken driving. Here the number of accidents due to alcohol intoxication is the highest at 4,220 and the number of fatalities is 2186.
Road Accidents, Fatalities, and Injuries by Road Features:
‘Straight roads‘ accounted for 66 percent of road accidents, 66.6 percent of road accident deaths, and 65.7 percent of injuries in the Million Plus Cities during 2022. Various road features that lead to more road accidents include the presence of potholes and irregular situations led by ongoing construction works. In the Million Plus Cities, ongoing road works/roads under construction and Bridges together accounted for 4.4 percent of road accidents, 6.8 percent of deaths, and 4.0 percent of injuries. Potholes account for nearly 0.8 percent of road accidents, 1.2 percent of road accident deaths, and 0.7 percent of injuries.
India bags the top place among the 20 countries based on Persons Killed (n) in Road Accident:
India has the highest number of total persons killed due to road accidents, followed by China and the United States. Venezuela, RB, has the highest rate of persons killed per 1,00,000 population. Several countries, such as Brazil, Pakistan, and Nigeria, have low rates of persons killed per 1,00,000 population in road accidents.
The analysis shows the distribution of road accidental deaths and injuries in India varies according to states, north-eastern states, and union territories. The fatal road accident victims largely constitute young people in the productive age groups. Traffic management, improved vehicle standards, good road design, speed control, the regular use of seat belts and helmets, and the enforcement of alcohol limits can improve road safety and reduce or minimize road accidental deaths. Road users in India deserve better and safer road travel.
“Safety first” is “Safety always.”
LINKS:
https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/RA_2022_30_Oct.pdf
https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Road_Accidents_in_India_2012.pdf
https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/Road_Accidents_in_India_2017.pdf
