1 dies every 3 mins in road accidents

Hyderabad

According to information given by the Hyderabad Traffic Police, in Hyderabad 2,576 accidents took place in 2012, resulting in the death of 463 persons and injuries to 2473 persons. This year till the end of August, 1607 accidents took place in which 329 persons died and 1520 were injured

Young victims

Majority of road accident victims – 51.9 % -- are in the 25-65 age group, followed by 30.3% in the 15-24 age groups

The bus mishap that took place in Mahabubnagar late on Tuesday night is yet another instance of a disturbing pattern with increasing number of accidents involving motorised vehicles, which accounted for 93.7 per cent of all road accidents across the country in the year 2012. This includes mishaps involving buses (8.8%). The category of 'trucks, tempos, tractors and other articulated vehicles' accounted for the highest proportion of fatalities (28.8 per cent of the total fatalities in road accidents).

According to official data, in Andhra Pradesh there was a total of 984 accidents involving buses during 2011, of which 345 were major mishaps; with the fatalities in all these mishaps being 355.

Amongst the vehicle categories countrywide, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share (25.1 per cent) in the total road accidents in 2012, followed by trucks, tempos, tractors and other articulated vehicles (22.7 per cent), cars, jeeps and taxis (21.6 per cent), buses (8.8 per cent), other motor vehicles (8.7 per cent) and auto rickshaws (6.8 per cent).

India has witnessed one road accident every minute in 2012 and the mishaps have claimed one life every 3.7 minutes-- one of the highest automobile fatalities in the world. According to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, during 2012, a total of 4,90,383 road accidents were reported by all States and Union Territories. Of these, about 25.1 per cent (1,23,093) resulted in fatalities. In all, 1,38,258 of persons were killed in road accidents, ie an average of one fatality per 3.5 accidents. The proportion of fatal accidents in total road accidents has increased from 18.1 per cent in 2003 to 25.1 per cent in 2012.

The highest number of persons killed per lakh of population in 2012 on account of road accidents was in Tamil Nadu (23.8), followed by Andhra Pradesh (17.5).

Driver’s faults accounted for a whopping 78.5% of the total road accidents, while faults attributed to pedestrians and cyclists accounted for a mere 3.7%; with defects in road conditions causing 1.5% of the mishaps.

Among the states, Maharashtra at 68,438 topped the list with the highest number of road accidents, followed by Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in 2012. Mumbai topped the list of cities with 25,471 road accidents, Delhi came second with 7,281 road accidents, followed by Bengaluru (6031), Indore (4995) and Bhopal (3459).

In another disturbing trend, of the total number of road accidents, 53.5% were reported from rural areas, reflecting a rising tide of motorisation in rural India. Compared to this, urban areas reported 46.5% of the total number of road accidents.

Between 2002 and 2012, while road accidents increased by 2.1%, the number of fatalities increased by 5.5 %. In comparison, during this period, the number of registered vehicles increased by 9.9%.