Road accident deaths record 2.37 pc rise to 1.51 lakh in 2018

The number of people killed on Indian roads recorded a rise of 2.37 percent to 1.51 lakh in 2018 and 70 percent of the victims fell in the age bracket of 18-45 years, according to a report released by the highways ministry on Tuesday. A total of 1.47 lakh people were killed in road crashes in 2017, according to the annual report 'Road Accidents in India, 2018' brought out by the ministry's transport research wing.

"Road accidents in the country have increased marginally by 0.46 percent during 2018 with the year seeing 4.67 lakh road accidents as against 4.64 lakh in 2017," the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said. The fatalities during the same period also rose about 2.37 percent and 1.51 lakh persons were killed in 2018 as against 1.47 lakh in 2017.

Road accident injuries have, however, showed a decrease of 0.33 percent in 2018 as compared to 2017. During 2018, like the previous two years, young adults in the age group of 18-45 years accounted for nearly 69.6 percent of road accident victims.

The working-age group of 18-60 accounted for a share of 84.7 percent in the total road accident deaths. "The number of hit-and-run cases in 2018 accounted for 18.9 percent of the deaths compared to 17.5 percent in 2017. Head-on collision, followed by hit-and-run cases, followed by a hit from the back accounted for almost 56 percent of persons killed in 2018. The category, which registered the maximum increase in terms of persons killed in 2018, was a collision with parked vehicles," the report said.

The share of males in a number of total accident deaths was 86 percent, while the share of females hovered around 14 percent in 2018. The report also brings out that while accidents, deaths, and injuries registered a steep rise till 2010, they somewhat stabilized after that, with only marginal year-to-year fluctuations.

Further, the compound annual growth rate of accidents as well as accident-related deaths in the period 2010-18 dropped drastically and was the least when compared with the previous decades, despite the high rate of growth of automobiles. National highways, which comprise 1.94 percent of the total road network, accounted for 30.2 percent of the total road accidents and 35.7 percent of deaths in 2018.

State highways, which account for 2.97 percent of the road length, accounted for 25.2 percent and 26.8 percent of accidents and deaths, respectively. Other roads that constitute about 95.1 percent of the total roads were responsible for the balance of 45 percent of accidents and 38 percent deaths.

According to the report, in terms of accident-related killings by type of road users, the number of pedestrians killed accounted for 15 percent, the share of cyclists was 2.4 percent and that of two-wheelers was 36 percent. Together, these categories account 53.9 percent of the accident-related killings and were the most vulnerable category quite in line with global trends.

Under the category of Traffic Rule Violations, over-speeding proved to be a major killer, accounting for 64.4 percent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side of the road which accounted for 5.8 percent of the accident-related deaths. The use of mobile phones accounted for 2.4 percent of the deaths with drunken driving accounting for 2.8 percent of the persons killed.

Cases involving driving without valid license/learners' license accounted for 13 percent of accidents. About 29 percent of deaths were being attributed to non-use of helmets and 16 percent of deaths to non-use of seat belts.

Vehicles older than 10 years accounted for 41 percent of accident-related deaths.