Alarming increase in road accidents in 2022; 19 deaths reported every hour: Report
PTC News Desk: The number of road accidents has significantly increased in India in 2022. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), road accidents went up by an alarming 12% to over 4.6 lakh in 2022, resulting in the death of 19 persons every hour.
53 accidents every hour
The report further stated that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.
"A total of 4,61,312 road accidents have been reported by states and Union Territories (UTs) during the calendar year 2022, which claimed 1,68,491 lives and caused injuries to 4,43,366 persons," the report added.
The report titled 'Road accidents in India -- 2022' further added that there is an "11.9% increase in accidents, 9.4 per cent in fatalities, and 15.3 per cent in injuries compared to the previous year."
Furthermore, for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, mainly young people in the productive age groups were the victims of the fatal road accident.
"Young adults in the age group of 18 - 45 years accounted for 66.5 per cent of victims during 2022," the report added. People in the working age group of 18 - 60 years constitute 83.4% of total road accident fatalities, it said.
Target of cutting these numbers by half by 2024
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has set the target of cutting the number of accidents and deaths in the country by half by 2024.
States/UTs reported a total of 1,68,491 road accident fatalities in 2022, which is higher than the 1,53,972 reported in 2021.
According to the report, a total of 4,61,312 accidents occurred in the country in 2022, with 1,51,997 (32.9%) occurring on National Highways (NH), including expressways, 1,06,682 (23.1%) occurring on state highways, and the remaining 2,02,633 (43.9%) occurring on other roads.
"Out of the total of 1,68,491 fatalities reported in 2022, 61,038 (36.2 per cent) were on national highways, 41,012 (24.3 per cent) were on state highways and 66,441 (39.4 per cent) were on other roads," the report said.
Two-wheelers accounted for the highest share of total accidents and fatalities among vehicle categories involved in road accidents for the second consecutive year in 2022.
According to the report, light vehicles, which include cars, jeeps, and taxis, came in second place.
- With inputs from agencies
