10 things about India’s road safety figures as Gadkari flags 172,000 deaths in 2023

India, a country with a population of over 1.40 billion, lost more than 172,000 of its people over 480,000 road accidents in just one year - 2023. The alarming figures were revealed by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari ahead of the official release of the report by his ministry.

According to a report by The Indian Express, the number of accidents in 2023 were 4.2 per cent higher than a year ago, while the number of fatalities due to these were 2.6 per cent more.

In 2022, over 461,000 road accidents were reported in which there were more than 168,000 fatalities.

Addressing an event on Road safety in Uttar Pradesh’s capital city Lucknow, Gadkari, on Saturday shared more shocking numbers related to accidents in India in 2023

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10 things about India’s road safety figures

1 - Of the total road accident deaths in 2023, around 10,000 deceased were minors.

2 - As many as 35,000 accidents were in the areas outside schools and colleges, where 10,000 deaths took place.

3 - A total of 35,000 road accident deaths were of pedestrians.

4 - The maximum of 54,000 deaths were of those who were riding without helmets.

5 - Around 16,000 people died as they were not wearing seat belts while driving and when the mishap occurred.

6 - As many as 12,000 deaths have occurred due to overloaded vehicles.

7 - Driving without a valid license accounted for around 34,000 of the total road accidents in 2023.

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8 - With 23,650 fatalities, the highest number of road accident deaths in 2023 were in Uttar Pradesh. There were 44,000 accidents in the state last year.

9 - In Uttar Pradesh, 1,800 people who died in road accidents were below the age of 18, while 10,000 were pedestrians and two-wheelers.

10 - As many as 8,726 road accident deaths in Uttar Pradesh were due to over speeding.

“The remaining deaths occur due to old vehicles, old technology like not being able to apply brakes,” Gadkari said.

The minister further noted that the highest number of road accident deaths in the world occurs in India.

‘Many reasons for accidents’

Gadkari also pointed out that there are a host of reasons for accidents, but the biggest is Human Behavior.

“This is also true that there are potholes on the roads at many places. There is a lack of underpasses and foot over bridges. We have identified the black spots in this road engineering problem and such spots are being rectified on the National Highway by spending about Rs 40,000 crore,” he said.

“All roads are not under me, I am the Minister of National Highways only. There are many state highways and district roads. It also concerns the state government. The cause of the accident can be found and rectified,” the minister further said.

‘We need to work more’

Gadkari said that companies have been instructed to improve automobile engineering and also, an awareness program is being run.

“We are trying to ensure that the state government includes Rules of the Road in its curriculum. We were talking about reducing accidents by 50 per cent by 2024, but they have not reduced. This means we need to do more work,” he said.