The issue of road accidents is becoming a matter of concern for the country. In the last few years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of road accidents in the country. And to spread awareness about this, National Road Safety Week is celebrated every year in India from January 11-17. Its objective is to increase awareness about road safety measures among the people which would reduce road accidents cases. So how many road accidents occur every year in our country? What are the main causes of accidents?
How many road accidents occur in India every year?
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways recently published a report titled 'Road Accidents in India - 2022'. According to this report, a total of 4,61,312 road accidents have occurred in India in the year 2022. In these accidents, 1,68,491 people lost their lives and a total of 4,43,366 people were injured. It has been said in the report that compared to the year 2021, there has been an increase of 11.9 percent in road accidents and 9.4 percent increase in deaths due to accidents. If we talk about the year 2021, there were 4.03 lakh road accidents in the country during this period. More than 1.55 lakh people died in these accidents. At the same time, 3.71 lakh people were also injured. Apart from this, 3.54 lakh (1.33 lakh deaths) road accidents were recorded in the year 2020, 4.37 lakh (1.54 lakh deaths) in the year 2019.
Rural more accident-prone
According to the report released by the Transport Ministry, about 68 percent of the deaths in road accidents in 2022 have occurred in rural areas. At the same time, 32 percent deaths have occurred in urban areas. Two-wheelers accounted for the highest number of both total accidents and fatality rates at 44.5 percent. At the same time, 19.5 percent of the deaths were of people walking on the road. The biggest thing is that 83.4 percent of the total deaths in road accidents were of people in the working age group of 18-60 years.
Which state records maximum number of accidents?
According to the report released by the Transport Ministry for the year 2022, the highest number of road accidents have occurred in Tamil Nadu. 13.9 percent of the total accidents in the country have been registered here. At the same time, Madhya Pradesh comes in second place with 11.8 percent accidents. If we talk about deaths in road accidents, Uttar Pradesh is at the forefront with 13.4 percent of the total deaths. At the same time, Tamil Nadu is at second place with 10.6 percent deaths. The total number of deaths in road accidents is also highest in India, followed by China and America.
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What are the causes of accidents?
The main reasons for road accidents in the country are overspeeding, careless driving (like wrong lane), drunk driving, not wearing helmet, not wearing seat belt and not maintaining vehicles etc. If all these factors are paid attention to and necessary safety measures are maintained, the number of accidents can be significantly reduced. Apart from this, awareness campaigns are also being run by the government through social media, electronic media and print media. Apart from this, the Transport Ministry has also brought strict provisions for seat belts, air bags and helmets etc.
