Pedestrians and cyclists suffered the biggest spike in fatalities in road accidents across the country in 2017, even as overall fatalities in road accidents and the total count of such incidents declined marginally.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ annual report on road accidents, the total number of accidents dropped 3.3% in 2017 to 4.64 lakh, with the overall number of lives lost in these crashes declining 1.9% to 1.47 lakh, from 1.5 lakh in 2016.
However, the number of pedestrians killed in road accidents jumped by 29.9% to 20,457 and the number of cyclists killed surged by 37.7% to 3,559. Pedestrians and cyclists together accounted for 16.2% of the total fatalities in road accidents during 2017.
The data also shows that almost 7 out of 10 two-wheeler and four wheeler users who died in an accident did not follow the mandatory requirement of wearing helmets and seat belts.
Use of mobile phones was among the top four traffic violations that led to road fatalities — overspeeding accounted for 66.7% of total deaths in road crashes, driving on the wrong side claimed 6.4%, drunken driving 3.2%, and use of mobile phones accounted for 2.1% of total road deaths.
Tamil Nadu topped in number of accidents, while U.P. had the most fatalities.
The Ministry attributes the incidence of road mishaps to an increase in the overall number of motor vehicles.
“The increase in personalized means of transport and decline in share of public transport have significant implications on traffic congestion and safety,” the Ministry said in the report.
The total number of registered motor vehicles in the country grew at the rate of 9.9% between 2006 and 2016. Two wheelers, cars and jeeps witnessed a growth rate of 10.1%, while goods vehicles and buses increased by 9% and 5.9% respectively. The composition of vehicular population in 2016 shows two-wheelers having the highest share (73.5%), followed by cars, jeeps and taxis (13.1%), other vehicles (8.1%), goods vehicles (4.6%) and buses (0.8%).
