Over-speeding caused most road crashes, deaths in 2019: Govt report

Overspeeding led to maximum number of road crashes and deaths in India in 2019 revealed the annual road accident report of the Ministry of Road Transport and HighwaysAccording to the report released by the ministrys Transport Research Wing 151113 people were killed and 451361 persons were injured in 449002 road crashes in India in 2019 The country saw 1230 road crashes and 414 deaths every day or 51 crashes and 17 deaths every hourIn a causewise split maximum number of road crashes and deaths were caused by overspeeding which accounted for 673 per cent or 101699 deaths 71 per cent of crashes and 724 per cent of injuriesThe number of pedestrians killed in road crashes increased from 22656 in 2018 to 25858 in 2019 ie increase of about 1413 per cent Together two wheelers and pedestrians accounted for 54 per cent of the accident related killings and are the most vulnerable category keeping in line with global trendsGender wise 129319 86 per cent males and 21794 14 per cent females lost their lives to road crashes in 2019 The nonuse of helmets caused 44666 approx 30 per cent deaths and nonuse of seat belts caused 20885 14 per cent deaths in 2019Overloaded vehicles accounted for about 10 per cent deaths and 8 per cent of total crashes About 69621 155 per cent cases were registered as Hit and Run which caused 29354 deaths 194 per cent and 61751 injuries 137 per cent Compared to 2018 hit and run cases increased by 15 per cent and deaths due to hit and run increased by 05 per centDriving without a valid license or with a learners license accounted for 15 per cent of total crashes There was a 62 per cent increase in road crash deaths due to potholes with 2140 deaths in 2019Vehicles more than 10 years accounted for 41 per cent of accident related deaths The share of the number of persons killed in urban and rural areas was 329 per cent and 671 per cent respectivelyIndia has however witnessed reduction in road crash fatalities after the enactment of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act in 2019 the ministry saidIn percentage terms in 2019 the number of crashes decreased by almost 39 per cent from the previous year while the crash related deaths decreased by 020 per cent and the persons injured decreased by almost 39 per centThis is also in contradiction to the recentlyreleased Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India ADSI Report by NCRB under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs The ADSI reported 13 per cent increase in road accident deaths from 2018 to 2019 and reported total fatalities at 154732Before the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act came into force the country recorded 104206 deaths between January August which was a 2 per cent increase from 2018 Following its enactment 46907 road crash deaths occurred during the months of SeptemberDecember which is a 46 per cent reduction from the deaths that occurred in 2018 during these monthsThis shows that the enactment of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019 may have led to a reduction in road crash fatalities in the later months of the year the ministry saidThe Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill 2019 came into effect from September 1 after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha in July The bill replaced the 26yearold Motor Vehicles Act which was last amended in 2001The law imposed stricter provisions and heavier fines on roadrelated offences with penalties for drunken driving increased to Rs 20000 from Rs 2000 It also introduced fines for not providing way for emergency vehicles and juvenile drivingTamil Nadu 127 per cent topped the country in terms of total number of road crashes followed by Madhya Pradesh 113 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 95 per cent In case of road crash deaths Uttar Pradesh 15 per cent topped the country followed by Maharashtra 85 per cent and Madhya Pradesh 74 per centIn a city wise analysis Delhi 1463 was the city with the highest number of road crash fatalities followed by Jaipur 1283 Chennai 1252 Bengaluru 768 and Kanpur 692 In terms of road crashes Chennai 6871 was the highest followed by Delhi 5610 and Bengaluru 4684As per age wise break up of road crash data maximum lives lost were those of between the ages 1835 years 48 per cent The working age population in the 1860 years bracket accounted for a share of 84 per cent in the total deaths As many as 11168 children were killed due to road crashes in 2019 ie 31 child deaths every day Child deaths increased by 1191 1194 per cent over the previous yearCommenting on the statistics Piyush Tewari CEO and founder SaveLIFE Foundation said There is an urgent need for full implementation of the Road Safety provisions in the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act including implementation of Child Safety provisions Additionally identifying risk factors specific to the safety of children and creating a plan to mitigate them should be prioritised by all state governments This will not only help lives of Children but other roadusers as wellKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever