1.72 lakh people died in 4.80 lakh road accidents in 2023: Road Ministry report

New Delhi: The number of road accidents in India went up by 4.2 per cent to over 4.8 lakh in 2023, resulting in death of 20 persons every hour, according to a report by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The report showed that 55 road accidents take place every hour in the country.

"A total number of 4,80,583 road accidents have been reported by Police Departments of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the country during the calendar year 2023, claiming 1,72,890 lives and causing injuries to 4,62,825 persons," the report titled 'Road accidents in India 2023' said.

For the fourth consecutive year in 2023, the report said 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 working age group of 18 – 60 years share 83.4 per cent of total road accident fatalities," it said.

According to the report, during 2023, a total of 4,80,583 accidents were recorded in the country, of which, 1,50,177 (31.2 per cent) took place on the National Highways (NH) including Expressways, 1,05,622 (22.0 per cent) on State Highways (SH) and the remaining 2,24,744 (46.8 per cent) on other roads.

Out of the total of 1,72,890 fatalities reported in 2023, the report said 63,112 (36.5 per cent) were on National Highways, 39,439 (22.8 per cent) were on State Highways and 70,339 (40.7 per cent) were on other roads.

Out of the total 1,60,509 fatal accidents reported in 2023, 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.

Amongst the states, the report said Tamil Nadu recorded the highest number of road accidents on National Highways in 2023, whereas, the number of persons killed in road accident was the highest in Uttar Pradesh.

The report noted that road accidents are multi-causal and are often the result of interplay of various factors like human error, road environment and vehicular condition.

In 2023, under the category of Traffic Rule Violations, over-speeding was a major killer, accounting for 68.1 per cent of the persons killed, followed by driving on the wrong side (5.5 per cent).

In respect of neighbourhoods categories, it revealed that 45.87 per cent of accidents, 53.64 per cent of death and 46.28 per cent of injuries occurred in open area, i.e., locations which normally do not have any human activities in the vicinity.

Under road feature category, the report said, 67 per cent of accidents took place on straight roads, whereas accidents on curved roads, pothole roads and steep grade together accounted for only 14.47 per cent of the total road accidents in 2023.

Among vehicle categories involved in road accidents, for the third consecutive year, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share in total accidents and fatalities during 2023.

Light vehicles comprising of cars, jeeps and taxis together come second.

"In terms of road-user categories, the share of two-wheeler riders in total fatality has been the highest (44.8 per cent) during 2023 followed by the pedestrian road-users with 20.4 per cent of persons killed in road accidents.

The report 'Road accidents in India - 2023' provides information on various facets of road accidents in the country during the calendar year 2023.

Data/information provided in this report are sourced from police departments of states/Union Territories collected on calendar year basis in standardized formats as provided by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) under the Asia Pacific Road Accident Data (APRAD) base project.