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

New Delhi, Nov 19 () The number of people killed on Indian roads recorded a rise of 2.37 per cent to 1.51 lakh in 2018 and 70 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 per cent of road accident victims.

The working age group of 18-60 accounted for a share of 84.7 per cent in the total road accident deaths.

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"The number of hit-and-run cases in 2018 accounted for 18.9 per cent of the deaths compared to 17.5 per cent in 2017. Head-on collision, followed by hit-and-run cases, followed by hit from the back accounted for almost 56 per cent of persons killed in 2018. The category, which registered the maximum increase in terms of persons killed in 2018, was collision with parked vehicles," the report said.

The share of males in number of total accident deaths was 86 per cent, while the share of females hovered around 14 per cent in 2018. The report also brings out that while accidents, deaths and injuries registered a steep rise till 2010, they somewhat stabilised 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 per cent of the total road network, accounted for 30.2 per cent of the total road accidents and 35.7 per cent of deaths in 2018.

State highways, which account for 2.97 per cent of the road length, accounted for 25.2 per cent and 26.8 per cent of accidents and deaths, respectively.

Other roads that constitute about 95.1 per cent of the total roads were responsible for the balance 45 per cent of accidents and 38 per cent deaths.

According to the report, in terms of accident-related killings by type of road users, the number of pedestrians killed accounted for 15 per cent, the share of cyclists was 2.4 per cent and that of two-wheelers was 36 per cent.

Together, these categories account 53.9 per cent 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 per cent of the persons killed followed by driving on the wrong side of the road which accounted for 5.8 per cent of the accident-related deaths.

Use of mobile phones accounted for 2.4 per cent of the deaths with drunken driving accounting for 2.8 per cent of the persons killed.

Cases involving driving without valid licence/learners' licence accounted for 13 per cent of accidents.

About 29 per cent of deaths were be attributed to non-use of helmets and 16 per cent of deaths to non-use of seat belts.

Vehicles older than 10 years accounted for 41 per cent of accident-related deaths. NAM HRS