Every hour, 16 people lost their lives on Indian roads and a total of 4.5 lakh crashes and 4.8 lakh people were injured last year. These are the highest recorded figures ever.
Indian roads took the most number of lives in 2014, killing over 16 people every hour on average. More than 1.41 lakh people lost their lives due to crashes, which is 3 percent more than the same figure in 2013. Ever since recording of this data begun, the number of crashes and people injured were the highest ever in India at 4.5 lakh and 4.8 lakh respectively. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), dangerous driving and speeding were the biggest factors for causing fatalities on the road and accidents that involved two-wheelers and trucks/lorries accounted for almost half of the total number of lives lost.
Coming to the detailed statistics, 13,787 two-wheeler drivers died from crashes and 23,529 others lost their lives in accidents involving the same class of vehicles. Around 1.4 lakh people were injured as a result of two-wheelers as well. Over-speeding helped in causing about 1.7 lakh crashes and almost 49,000 deaths, while dangerous driving or overtaking resulted in killing more than 42,000 individuals in 1.4 lakh crashes. It’s interesting to note that the five states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu alone accounted for more than 40 percent of the total fatalities. UP lost the most number of lives at 16,284 deaths, but the roads of Tamil Nadu claimed over 15,000 lives which is very bad considering the state’s relative size.
Delhi recorded the maximum number of fatalities at 2199 and Chennai registered 1046 similar deaths, among the 53 mega cities in India. Similarly, Bhopal and Jaipur came in at third and fourth positions claiming 1015 and 844 lives respectively. Telangana had the highest number of deaths recorded in expressways, stacking 279 of the total 1802 victims which is 15.5 percent of all lives lost on Indian roads. Other contributors of lives lost on expressways includes the states of Haryana (13.4 percent), UP (12.9 percent), Rajasthan (12.3 percent) and West Bengal (11.4 percent).
