Road accidents up 4.2% in 2023; 172K lives lost despite safety push

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Road accidents grew 4.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 480,583 in 2023, claiming 172,890 lives – an all-time high, despite increased spending on safe infrastructure and measures to boost road safety, according to a report by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

 

The number of road accident deaths increased 2.6 per cent as against 2022, and the incidents caused injuries to 462,825 people – an increase of 4.4 per cent, according to the annual road accidents report. 

“These figures translate, on an average, into 1,317 accidents and 474 deaths every day or 55 accidents and 20 deaths every hour in the country,” it added. 

The ministry released its ‘Road Accidents in India 2023’ report following a Supreme Court’s direction after several delays.

 

In May, the apex court directed the ministry to release the report and asked it to publish forthcoming reports within six months.

According to the findings, total fatal road accidents increased from 1,55,781 in 2022 to 1,60,509 in 2023, registering an increase of 3.04 per cent year-on-year. Fatal accidents constituted 33.4 per cent of total accidents during 2023. A fatal accident is one that results in two or more deaths.

 

Of the total fatal accidents, 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, the report said.

 

Under traffic violations, overspeeding continued to be a major killer in 2023, causing 68 per cent of the deaths, while driving on the wrong side led to 5.5 per cent deaths. 

“For the fourth consecutive year in 2023, 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,” the report said.

 

According to the report, two-wheeler users accounted for 44.8 per cent of all fatalities with pedestrians accounting for nearly 20 per cent of all road crash deaths in 2023. Over 9,489 children lost their lives in road accident during the year too.

 

“The annual report on road crashes is a grim reminder of the devastating impact of road crashes in India every year. The government of India has made efforts in improving road safety over the years, but much more needs to be done to drive meaningful change on the ground. When 26 children die on our roads every day and two-wheeler users account for nearly half of all fatalities, we cannot treat this as merely statistics. These numbers represent families destroyed and potential lost,” Piyush Tewari, Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, said.