NEW DELHI, Sept 30: More than 1.73 lakh people were killed and 4.47 lakh others were injured in road accidents across the country in 2023 with nearly 46% of the victims being two-wheeler riders, according to a report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Over-speeding and careless driving were found to be the two major causes of road accidents. There occurred 4,64,029 road accidents in the country in 2023, 17,261 more than in 2022 — with a 1.6% increase in fatalities, from 1,71,100 in 2022 to 1,73,826 in 2023.
Most of the accidents, 95,984 cases (20.7%), were reported between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Accidents between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and between 12 noon and 3 p.m. accounted for 17.3% (80,482 cases) and 15% (69,397 cases), respectively.
Two-wheelers accounted for maximum fatal road accidents, 79,533 deaths, causing 45.8% of total road accident deaths, followed by pedestrians at 27,586 deaths (15.9%) and SUV/car/jeep at 24,776 deaths (14.3%). Most of the deaths in two-wheeler accidents were reported in Tamil Nadu (11,490 deaths) and Uttar Pradesh (8,370 deaths), accounting for 14.4% and 10.5% of total deaths, respectively.
A large number of deaths due to SUV/car/jeep accidents (4,768 out of 24,776) were reported in Uttar Pradesh (19.2% of total such accidents) and a large number of deaths due to trucks/lorries/mini truck accidents (4,138 out of 13,823) were reported in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for 29.9%.
The NCRB said cause-wise analysis of fatal road accidents revealed that 58.6% (1,01,841 deaths) and 23.6% (41,035 deaths) of fatalities in road accidents were due to over-speeding and dangerous/careless driving or overtaking, respectively. Poor weather conditions, driving under influence of drug/alcohol and animal crossing caused 2.8% (4,952 deaths) of the accidents.
Generally, road accidents have caused more injuries than deaths, but in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jharkhand, Punjab, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, road accidents caused more deaths compared with persons injured.
In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 25 road accidents caused 27 deaths and injuries to 11 persons; in Jharkhand, 5,316 road accidents caused 4,173 deaths and injuries to 3,586 persons; in Punjab, 6,276 road accidents caused 4,906 deaths and injuries to 3,305 persons; in Bihar, 11,014 road accidents caused 8,873 deaths and injuries to 6,539 persons, and in Uttar Pradesh, 37,764 road accidents caused 23,947 deaths and injuries to 23,843 persons.
A total of 3,630 cases of road accidents were also reported on Expressways which caused injuries to 2,762 persons and deaths of 2,372 persons. The highest numbers of deaths in road accidents were reported on the National Highways accounting for 34.6% (60,127 out of 1,73,826 deaths), followed by State Highways at 23.4% (40,611 deaths).
A total of 73,088 (42%) people died due to accidents on other roads. State/Union Territory-wise patterns revealed that maximum fatalities in road accidents on the National Highways took place in Uttar Pradesh (11.7%) (7,041 out of 60,127 deaths) followed by Tamil Nadu (10.4%) (6,258 deaths), Maharashtra (8.5%) (5,104 deaths), Karnataka (7%) (4,230 deaths) and Madhya Pradesh (7%) (4,184 deaths) in 2023.
(Manas Dasgupta)