Annual Report on Road Accidents in India released

On November 20, 2019, the Ministry of road transport and highways released a report on “Road Accidents in India, 2018”. According to the report, around 1,51,417 deaths occurred in India due to road accidents in 2018. It pointed out that road environment, human errors and vehicle conditions were the major reasons for road accidents.

Highlights of the report

The reports said that the number of road accidents have increased by 2.4% as compared to 2017. Around 53 crashes and loss of 17 lives are occurring in India every hour.

Around 48% of road crash deaths were of persons in the age group between 18 years and 35 years. 6.6% of persons who died in road accidents were minors.

According to the report, Tamil Nadu topped the country in terms of number of road crashes. The report also said that many states failed to enact Motor Vehicles Amendment Act and also reduced the fines (Eg: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand)

Road Accident Deaths

The road accident deaths due to use of mobile phones accounted to 2.4%, drunken driving accounted to 2.8%. The deaths that occurred due to driving on the wrong sides of the road accounted to 5.8% and over-speeding accident deaths accounted to 6.4%.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2019