The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has published the latest edition of the Road Accidents in India report, providing an insight into the road accidents reported in 2023. Highlight figures included a growth in road accidents and fatalities on Indian roads. Reported accidents rose from 4,61,312 in 2022 to 4,80,583 in 2023, while total fatalities grew from 1,68,491 to 1,72,890. One small positive was that the rate of growth of accidents slowed from double digits in the previous two years, i.e. 10.8 per cent year-on-year in 2021 and 11.9 per cent in 2022, to 4.2 per cent in 2023. Similarly, road accident fatalities also only grew 2.6 per cent year-on-year.
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Worryingly, while the total number of road accidents and resulting injuries has remained below its peak levels reported almost a decade ago, the number of fatal accidents continues to grow year-on-year. 2023 marked a new high for fatal road accidents in the country.
The report revealed that two-wheelers remained the most dangerous mode of road transport on Indian roads, accounting for the highest percentage of accidents and fatalities. Two-wheelers also held the highest share as the vehicle causing fatal accidents.
Persons killed in Accidents Classified by the type of impacting vehicles (Crime
Vehicles by Victim vehicles) in 2023
Based on the report data, two-wheelers, as the crime vehicle, were the cause of 48,818 fatalities in accidents in 2023, followed by cars & LMVs with 42,067 and trucks with 33,997. The crime vehicle is refers to the vehicle that caused the accident. Two-wheeler to two-wheeler accidents additionally resulted in 27,539 fatalities compared to 17,787 in accidents with cars and 14,229 deaths in collisions with trucks. Cumulatively, two-wheeler riders suffered 77,539 fatalities in accidents - almost 45 per cent of all deaths due to road accidents, with pedestrians a distant second with 35,221 deaths due to road accidents (about 20 per cent of all road accident deaths.)
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The report also revealed that 54,568 two-wheeler casualties in road accidents was due to not wearing a helmet.
Overspeeding still remained the leading cause of accidents and fatalities on Indian roads, accounting for 3,28,727 accidents and 1,17,682 fatalities - roughly 68 per cent of all accidents and deaths. The interesting details, however, are that the number of incidents and fatalities was marginally lower than in 2022, where 3,33,323 accidents were reported along with 1,19,904 fatalities due to these accidents. Incidentally, the report also marked how straight sections of roads were the leading locations for accidents and fatalities, with 3,22,005 accidents reported and 1,14,447 resulting fatalities.
Similarly, reported accidents and fatalities due to drunken driving and use of mobile phones also witnessed a year-on-year decline, though wrong-side driving accidents were on the rise. Wrong-side driving accidents rose from 22,586 in 2022 to 25,242 in 2023, while the resulting fatalities grew from 9,094 to 9,432.
Further digging into the report has also called into question the driver training involved in gaining a license to operate a particular type of vehicle. The road accident report revealed that almost 71 per cent of all reported accidents, or 3,40,960 accidents, happened at the hands of valid license holders. This marked a 6.5 per cent growth over 2022.
Incidents with learner permit holders or unlicensed individuals behind the wheel, however, were down year-on-year over the past two years. Accidents by unknown parties, meanwhile, accounted for an almost 19 per cent share of all accidents.
Other notable findings of the report showed that newer vehicles - particularly those less than 10 years old made up the lion's share of road accidents. They also accounted for the major chunk of fatalities. As per the government data, vehicles less than 5 years old were involved in 1,42,463 accidents with 49,647 fatalities reported or about 30 per cent of all road accidents and 29 per cent of total fatalities.
Vehicles between 5 and 10 years old accounted for 1,35,594 road accidents and 46,832 fatalities, or about 28 per cent of accidents and 27 per cent of deaths. Vehicles between 10 and 15 years old accounted for about 13 per cent of all road accidents and deaths, while older vehicles accounted for about 11 per cent of accidents and 13 per cent of all deaths. Vehicles of unknown age accounted for the remaining 18 per cent of accidents and deaths.
Further details revealed that 60 per cent of all reported accidents included vehicles operating within permissible weight limits - ie, not overloaded. These same vehicles also accounted for about 56 per cent of all fatalities on the road. Overloaded vehicles, meanwhile, only accounted for about 6 per cent of all accidents and 7 per cent of all deaths.
