As many as 17 people died in 55 road accidents per hour on average last year, with nearly half of them in the 18-35 age group, according to an official report released on Wednesday. While overall road accidents declined by 4.1 per cent, the fatalities were up by 3.2 per cent, meaning more than 400 people lost their lives daily on road.
A total of 4,80,652 road accidents took place in India last year resulting in the loss of 1,50,785 lives and inflicting serious injuries on 4,94,624 persons. The Accidents India 2016 report, which was released by minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, revealed that 46.3 per cent killed in road accidents were young, between the age group of 18-35 years. It added that the working age group of 18-60 years constituted 83.3 per cent in the total road accident fatalities.
Based on the data reported by the police, drivers’ fault was the single most important factor responsible for road accidents (84 per cent), killings (80.3 per cent) and injuries (83.9 per cent).
The report says 13 states accounted for 86 per cent of accidents. These are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
