The number of road accidents dropped by 11.1% in Telangana to 19,172 in the State while 6,882 persons died in road mishaps in the State in 2020. In comparison, the State had recorded 6,964 fatalities from 21,570 accidents in 2019.
Telangana recorded 6,820 accidents on National Highways in 2020 (485 Black Spots till 2018) which are fewer than 2019, but higher than in ’16, ’17, and ’18. One of the reasons, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways surmises is that it might be due to the nationwide lockdown which led to disruption in vehicle movement for a few months in the early part of the year. “Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh recorded a marked decline in number of fatalities in 2020, one reason for this may probably be the impacts of nationwide lockdown,” says the document.
However, national highways proved deadlier in Telangana with 2,620 fatalities higher than the pre-COVID 2019 when 2,492 persons lost their lives. The overall fatality rate in accidents in the State declined marginally by -1.2%.
The deadliest time for accidents is between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m in Telangana when 4,099 accidents out of the 19,172 accidents took place. The safest time is between midnight and 3 a.m. when 799 accidents occurred.
A major cause for accidents in Hyderabad was overspeeding which killed 233 persons while 164 two-wheeler riders were killed as were 72 pedestrians. In total, 254 persons died on city roads in 2,064 accidents on city roads in 2020. The number of accidents in the city saw a sharp drop of 28.8% over 2019. Hyderabad was among the top 10 cities that accounted for 47.62% of the total road accidents in the country. Two-wheelers accounted for the highest number of accidents nationally with 42.14% fatality rate, while pedestrians constituted 20.81% of the victims.
The MORTH document released recently, notes the sharp rise in number of personal vehicles and links it to traffic congestion on Indian roads. “The increase in personalised means of transport and decline in share of public transport have significant implications on traffic congestion and safety. Vehicle density expressed in number of vehicles per kilometre of road length has increased from 28 vehicles in 2010 to 46 in 2020. This is indicative of the growing road traffic congestion in the country,” notes the document.
Telangana logged 36 deaths per 100 accidents which is also the national average.
