India is the road accident Capital of the world with 20 deaths reported every hour, and most of the victims are young adults. These figures pertain to 2023 and the official report says the mishap rate went up by 4.2 per cent, adding 55 mishaps take place per hour in the country.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways report also noted that road accidents are multi-causal and are often the result of the interplay of various factors like human error, road environment and vehicle condition.
In 2023, under the category of Traffic Rule Violations, over-speeding was a major killer, accounting for 68.1 per cent of the persons killed, followed by driving on the wrong side (5.5 per cent). “A total number of 4,80,583 road accidents have been reported by Police Departments of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the country during the calendar year 2023, claiming 1,72,890 lives and causing injuries to 4,62,825 persons,” the report titled ‘Road accidents in India 2023’ said.
For the fourth consecutive year in 2023, the report said the fatal road accident victims largely constitute young people in the productive age groups. “Young adults in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for 66.4 per cent of victims during 2023.
“People in the working age group of 18-60 years share 83.4 per cent of total road accident fatalities,” it said.
According to the report, during 2023, a total of 4,80,583 accidents were recorded in the country, of which 1,50,177 (31.2 per cent) took place on the National Highways (NH), including Expressways, 1,05,622 (22.0 per cent) on State Highways (SH) and the remaining 2,24,744 (46.8 per cent) on other roads.
Out of the total of 1,72,890 fatalities reported in 2023, the report said 63,112 (36.5 per cent) were on National Highways, 39,439 (22.8 per cent) were on State Highways and 70,339 (40.7 per cent) were on other roads.
Out of the total 1,60,509 fatal accidents reported in 2023, 57,467 (35.8 per cent) were on National Highways, 36,595 (22.8 per cent) on State Highways and 66,447 (41.4 per cent) were reported on other roads.
Similarly, the number of deaths and injuries on account of road accidents also increased by 2.6 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively. These figures translate, on average, into 1,317 accidents and 474 deaths every day, or 55 accidents and 20 deaths every hour in the country. Notably, the age groups of 18-45 accounted for 66.4 per cent of total accident deaths.
“Road traffic-related fatality rate differs among the States. During 2023, Sikkim (10.53) recorded the highest fatality rate, followed by Bihar (8.96). About 41 per cent of States have a fatality rate above the National average of 5.30 during 2023. Union Territories recorded a fatality rate lower than the National average. It may be noted that the States like Kerala (2.88), Gujarat (2.93), Maharashtra (4.07) and Karnataka (4.72) have a larger share in total accidents and persons killed in 2023; however, they recorded a fatality rate lower than the National average,” the report highlighted.
Amongst the states, the report said Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on National Highways in 2023, whereas the number of persons killed in road accidents was the highest in Uttar Pradesh.
In respect of neighbourhood categories, it revealed that 45.87 per cent of accidents, 53.64 per cent of deaths and 46.28 per cent of injuries occurred in open areas, i.E., locations which normally do not have any human activities in the vicinity.
Under the road feature category, the report said, 67 per cent of accidents took place on straight roads, whereas accidents on curved roads, pothole roads and steep grade together accounted for only 14.47 per cent of the total road accidents in 2023.
Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, for the third consecutive year, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share in total accidents and fatalities during 2023. Light vehicles, comprising cars, jeeps and taxis, together come second.
“In terms of road-user categories, the share of two-wheeler riders in total fatality has been the highest (44.8 per cent) during 2023, followed by the pedestrian road-users with 20.4 per cent of persons killed in road accidents.
The report provides information on various facets of road accidents in the country during the calendar year 2023. Data/information provided in this report is sourced from police departments of states/Union Territories collected on a calendar year basis in standardized formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project.