Bharat Chauhan New Delhi, The National Crime Records Bureau released the annual report on Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) for the year 2019. According to the report, road crash deaths in the country have increased by 1.3 % to 1,54,732 from 1,52780, 913 in 2018. The report released by NCRB marks a year since the notification of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019.
Road traffic injuries constitute the 8th leading causes of death in India. The annual accident Report of 2019 also reveals that out of the total 154,732 people killed in road crash deaths in 2019, 65% were the youth of 18 to 45 years and children of 14 years age group involved in road crash deaths were 2.6%.
Among the States, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest road crash deaths with 23285 deaths (15% of total deaths in 2019) followed by Maharashtra recording 14608 deaths (9.4%) and Madhya Pradesh recording 11856 deaths (7.7%).
Additionally, in terms of crashes – road accidents (67,228 cases) accounted for 97.3% of total traffic accidents in 53 mega cities during 2019. Chennai accounted for 10.2% (6,871 out of 67,228 cases) of total road accidents reported in 53 mega cities followed by Delhi City (8.0%) (5,349 cases).
Commenting on the report, Piyush Tewari, CEO and founder, SaveLIFE Foundation said, “On one hand India continues to see a rise in road crash fatalities, and on the other hand State Governments are yet to fully implement the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Act 2019, which was passed with the intent of reducing road crash deaths. The latest figures call for introspection by all those who’ve been resisting or opposing the implementation of the new law”.
