The number of people killed in road accidents in the State increased in 2018 from the previous year. As per the report ‘Road Accidents in India -2018’ released by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), road accidents have claimed the lives of 10,990 people, while 10,609 fatalities were reported in 2017.
The report also said that in 2018, 21,277 were grievously injured in Karnataka in road accidents, while 30,285 suffered minor injuries.
The number of fatalities increased despite the dip in the number of road accidents. In 2018, a total of 41,707 accidents were reported in the State, compared to the 42,542 in 2017.
Bengaluru saw the number of accidents go up from 2,297 to 4,611, while the number of fatalities also increased in the capital city.
“Karnataka has also moved down in its ranking of accidents from three in 2017 to four in 2018, registering a decline in accidents by 835 — about 2% over the previous year.
The State remained at the fourth place in terms of accident-related deaths and showed an increase in persons killed by 381 — about 3.6%,” states the report. In the last five years, more than 54, 000 people were killed in road accidents in the state.
According to the report, Tamil Nadu (13.7 %) tops the list in total number of road crashes followed by Madhya Pradesh (11%) and Uttar Pradesh (9.1%). In case of road crash deaths, Uttar Pradesh (14.7%) topped the country followed by Maharashtra (8.8%) and Tamil Nadu (8.1%).
The report says over 1.51 lakh people were killed, 4,69,418 persons were injured in 4,67,044 road crashes reported across the country. The number of deaths increased by 3,500 compared to the previous year.
Road crash fatalities have been mainly attributed to speeding (97,588), driving on the wrong side (8,764), driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (4,188) and use of mobiles while driving (3,707).
Across the country, the highest number people killed in road accidents were two-wheeler users at 55,336.
The number of pedestrians killed in the road accidents stands at 22,656. Roads are also not safe for bicycles. Data shows that 3,673 riding bicycles were killed in road accidents.
